Charlie
by robbiepoo2341
Summary: The Summers family has always had a knack for trouble, but the latest issues with Miss Sinister are threatening the lives and freedom of all the kids in the family. When an attack from Miss Sinister leaves Cody captured and Chance injured, Charlie wants to find a way to help her brothers. So, she turns to one of her closest friends, James Howlett Jr., for help devising a way to exp
1. The Problem with the Summers Boys

**Notes: Hello, and welcome to another volume of the 714 universe! In case you missed it, make sure you read the previous volume, "Hands Off, Viper," on Canucklehead Cowgirl's profile. Otherwise, come with me for another adventure!**

**(Also, sorry it took me a hot minute to get this up after the end of the last volume. The holiday season is even harder when you're pregnant and have a baby learning how to crawl at the same time.)**

* * *

**Chapter 1: "The Problem with the Summers Boys"**

* * *

It was midterms season in Westchester, which was busy enough on its own, but there had been an uptick in both anti-mutant crimes and the more radical mutant factions since Erik's death — and that, too, was keeping the X-Men busy.

Scott still didn't feel comfortable putting his junior squad on a lot of the calls they were getting, either. It had taken Sying a while to bounce back from what had happened in Russia — he was improving, and one day he might stop having panic attacks every time he was grabbed, but for the moment, the young man was still struggling with having been sold by Viper. It was the second time he'd been enslaved, so Scott really didn't blame him for losing it like he had. Still, he had asked Sying to make it a point to study with his dad at least once a week to learn how to go into a white run without a complete meltdown like what had happened in Russia.

The mutant trafficking rings were still operational, too — though SHIELD had been surprisingly efficient about breaking them up so they weren't nearly as prevalent. But that didn't mean the threat from governments themselves wasn't still there. Natasha had informed Scott the last time she was there on rotation that the Russians and Australians were still looking to recover Sying and Krissy respectively - and anyone else they could get their hands on — and Scott was sure it was the same across the board.

Not to mention the groups of kids springing up across the world — kids using the name of the old Brotherhood to rail against what was happening and lash out against the world because of it. They were nothing at all like the organized force Erik had commanded at his prime, but that, too, was a problem when the X-Men had to deal with scared teenagers lashing out and destroying government buildings, or even just destroying what they could get their hands on.

So when Scott found himself with a bit of time on his hands that wasn't caught up in running the school or the team, he was honestly looking forward to some time to stretch and blow off some steam.

There really wasn't any reason for anyone to be in the Danger Room when Scott headed down there, intending to run one of his favorite program, so it was all the more confusing when he got there to find that the doors were locked — which meant there was a heavy sim in progress.

With a quiet frown, he made his way up to the booth to see who on staff was having a hard day — thinking it was probably from some of the new, overly enthusiastic hopeful X-Men giving his staff trouble. All five schools had been busy since mutants started flooding to them again — it was cyclical at this point, this time because of the threat of the 'weapons' programs around the world, even if Hydra wasn't _quite _as much of a player in that particular endeavor as it had been before thanks to Viper's capture. Still, there were a lot of kids seeking asylum, and Westchester was even starting to get busy again despite the fact that Scott was _trying _to keep it smaller. At this rate, they'd be full up in all five locations — and they'd _just _opened up the European campus, too.

So, yes, things were more than a little busy. So he didn't blame whoever was in the Danger Room for wanting the time to unwind.

When he got there, he wasn't surprised _too _badly to see that the booth was empty - but when he looked down into the room, he was surprised to see who was going full tilt on the sim.

James was going all out — and looked to be a picture of concentration and focused destruction. He was trashing anything that got too close and making it look almost effortless -if not for the fact that he was grunting with every hard hit he made.

Scott frowned as he sat down to watch the young man work. He'd assumed that James was more interested in the projects he had on his plate than in joining a team. Especially since he and Charlie were almost always working on pinning down the emotional frequency to use for their own version of Cerebro, and that was an ambitious project on its own by all rights. Not to mention whatever he got up to when he went to Stark Tower… Scott had just assumed that was keeping James busy and _that _was where his focus was.

But seeing this had him wondering just why James hadn't gone out for the team. It was clear to see he was ready — at least for anything Scott could throw at him in his sims. He had no clue what Logan would come up with for a sim for this kid, now that he thought about it.

Scott leaned back in his seat with his arms crossed as he watched James continue to work until it was clear that he simply couldn't _go _anymore, and when it had reached that point, Scott ended the sim for him.

James spun on the spot and looked up at the booth, clearly out of breath. "Oh. Hi. I was just … yeah."

Scott couldn't help but smirk. "How long have you been getting around the protocols to come in here on your own?" he asked.

"That … I'm not telling you that," James said, shaking his head.

Scott smirked a bit wider, though he turned from the observation window so James didn't see it and headed down the stairs. When he got down there, he simply leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. "How come you haven't gone out for the team yet? Looks to me like you're more than ready."

"That is a little bit of a complicated question," James replied. "Long story short … I don't really think it would do me any good?"

Scott frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that … I don't see the point of joining up and letting anyone that's pushing for one of us know that I'm up for this kind of thing."

Scott let out a breath. "I know we've had to ground you and Elin, but that won't be forever," he said. "You can still train with the team, get to know how we operate — by the time you're set, we could be past this."

"Right. And it's never come up before, right?"

"So when do you think you _will _be ready?" Scott asked with one eyebrow raised.

"I guess that depends on where and _if _I'd fit in anywhere. Right now?" he shrugged. "Kind of redundant."

Scott's frown deepened. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, unless you want me for tech back up, you already have plenty of feral types in the group."

Scott shook his head. "You can't be serious," he said. "I'm not looking for a cookie-cutter team, one of every kind of power. That's _not _how we operate."

"Alright, don't get too worked up over nothing now," James said as he leaned against the wall.

"It's not 'nothing' if my own godson thinks I'd only want him on the team to… to check off a checklist of power types. Come _on_."

"Okay, didn't mean to hit the defensive button so hard."

Scott shook his head. "James, if you're just holding back because you don't think there's a place for you, I don't want you to miss out. That's all."

"Alright. I'll think about it then."

Scott nodded and then gave James a little smirk. "For the record, I think you'd make it in just fine, going by what I just saw."

"I'm really not worried about that, believe it or not," James told him. "If I screw up, I screw up. Wouldn't be the first time."

Scott tipped his head to the side. "Maybe I'm missing something here."

"Like what?" James asked, looking honestly confused.

"What are you talking about 'screwing up'?" Scott asked.

"Oh. Pranks too far, mistaking when I was ready for other things … it happens."

Scott actually let out a breath of a laugh and shook his head. "Oh. You mean _life_."

"Yeah. That. Not too worried about much."

"Well, let Storm know when you want to set something up with her," Scott said. "She'd be thrilled."

"Right. I'll be sure to do that." James started to head out of the room, then paused and turned to walk backwards. "You probably don't need me telling you Stark has made an offer too."

"Believe it or not, it doesn't take a genius to figure that out," Scott said with a smirk, leaning against the wall.

"That's what I said," James teased.

"I wouldn't be offended if you said yes," Scott told him.

"Honestly, I get more than enough of him as it is."

Scott shook his head and chuckled at that. "That also doesn't surprise me."

* * *

**With the reality finally set into Elin's head that every one of her friends was wrapped up in their flings and love affairs, she was fighting hard to keep from being depressed about it. It was painfully clear that she just didn't feel that way toward Nolan. At least, not to the degree the others were involved. But there was no good reason for it. He was a nice guy. He tried to take care of her — even when it wasn't necessary — and she was ****_sure _****that he genuinely cared. And that didn't even bring into account the fact that he had been showering her with attention, affection, and unnecessary gifts from the very beginning. **

But before she decided to try to make it work out with Nolan, she'd kept her eyes open to see if there were any other interested parties, but no one seemed to even want to look her way, let alone attempt to talk to her. She knew that the whole 'stabby parents' thing was an issue, but she was getting severely disheartened and convinced that there was something wrong with her. Literally every other girl she knew had boys tripping over themselves to flirt, and yet for Elin … nothing. It really didn't help that she wasn't allowed to leave the house, either. Even the missions she was used to going on with the team were cut back substantially with all of the politics going on. It was almost like she wasn't _really _part of the group at all.

Which was a large part of what made Nolan seem so attractive. At least he had the stones to talk to her. So, while everyone else was busy with their own things, Elin finally relented and began to throw herself into it, really going with the flow and letting Nolan set the pace. Which … was how she realized quite by accident that even if she didn't _love _him … she did feel a little bit better after a solid, involved kiss.

And it wasn't long after that when she simply ran with it, knowing that once they got involved in a makeout session, she'd feel a lot better with the attention he poured on.

It was to a point that she'd absolutely mastered finding all of the best spots to tuck in and get wrapped up — and her enhanced senses seriously were an amazing early warning system for adults or nosy kids. _When _she was paying attention properly — which … wasn't _always _the case.

The two of them were entirely wrapped up, and she was totally distracted, but still … Elin caught the sound of footsteps long before Nolan did. She shifted to warn him, but he didn't pick up on the cue that someone was coming, too caught up in what he was doing, until Chance had come skidding around the corner — on his way to go shooting with his little brother.

He pulled up short when he saw the two of them, his eyes wide, and his mouth opened and closed for a second before he shook his head hard and cleared his throat.

"I'm just…" Chance took a deep breath and shook his head again. "Me and Cody are going shooting, and I'm running late… so… I'll see you around," he said, directing his comments Elin's way before taking off down the hallway.

"You totally did that on purpose," Elin said once she knew Chance was gone, shaking her head at Nolan, who looked perfectly shocked.

"I really didn't," Nolan swore before he started to grin at her. "I was just … really focused on something more important."

She took a moment to watch him, knowing full well that he wasn't lying about it, so it really wasn't too hard for him to get her back on track with the little makeout session that had been interrupted.

* * *

Westchester was finally starting to edge toward spring as March came around, which meant both of the Summers boys had been looking forward to going out to the range now that the snow was melting. It wasn't quite the same going to the Danger Room or an indoor range — because neither of those things had quite the same explosive effect as going out to the range with K's red targets.

Plus, it had been a while since the two of them had been out on the range together for logistical reasons. Even though the trafficking rings certainly weren't as strong as they had been when Viper was running them — and SHIELD was making a concerted effort to break them up as much as possible — that didn't mean mutants stopped being in trouble or that countries and organizations stopped trying to 'collect' mutants to use as weapons. So… the team was busy.

Not to mention Chance spent almost all his extra time when he wasn't working with the team or training for the team with Krissy. He'd been incredibly upset when Viper had kidnapped her and Sying, and Cody was sort of purposely giving those two space. It looked like she had needed the hugs and kisses when she got back.

And Cody couldn't even properly tease his big brother about getting too involved, because there really was a good reason for it.

Besides, he'd been going on a few dates with Alexa ever since the fall formal, and he was really starting to like her. He'd even managed to sneak a kiss in the hall after class just yesterday, and he was still feeling pretty good about it.

Though when Chance finally caught up to Cody and K, he didn't look nearly as excited as he usually did when they went shooting. In fact, if anything, he was in a _mood_, his lips pressed into a thin line and his arms crossed as he climbed into the back of the Jeep with Cody.

Cody smirked over at his brother and hit his shoulder with his. "What's up? Krissy give you the cold shoulder this morning?" he teased.

"What?" Chance turned Cody's way and quickly shook his head. "No!"

"Well, then, I don't know what's up with you today, because you'd think someone who goes around making out with a pretty girl as much as you and Krissy carry on would be in a _great _mood," Cody said, perfectly straight-faced and grinning wider when he caught K smirking.

"Seriously, Cody?" Chance said, shaking his head.

"Hey, I'm just saying. Unless the problem _is _the constant makeout and you want a little more—"

"_Cody._"

"Boys," K said, not even trying to hide her smile. "We're almost here. And Cody … constant makeouts are _never _a problem. That's not even pick-worthy material."

"I'm just saying: if he would _ask, _I bet Krissy would—"

"Stop. Talking," Chance said, glaring at his little brother.

"So you _haven't _tried?"

"Does _Mom _know that this is the kind of thing you're hung up on, Cody? Because she would be _so _thrilled to hear it," Chance said, rolling his eyes.

"Not for _me._ But you _clearly _need something to chill out."

"We'll take care of that in just a little bit," K said before she gave Chance a little smirk. "Nothing like blowing things up to feel a little better."

"I'm _fine,_" Chance muttered with his arms crossed.

"Uh huh," Cody said in a tone that clearly said he didn't believe it.

"I think it's Chance's turn for the first shot," K said evenly as she kept her eyes forward.

"Yes, please," Chance said as they finally got out of the Jeep.

"Any requests on your targets?" she asked. "I'm putting out a few body-shaped ones for myself … if you need a face …"

"Red. Red is fine," Chance said, shaking his head at both of them.

Cody grinned over his shoulder at Chance as the two of them got set up for the morning of shooting, though as K could have predicted, once they got going, the teasing and bickering between the two brothers died off — more or less. There was still a little bit of shoving shoulders and little _looks _passed between them when they weren't shooting — but that was typical of brothers, really.

"I know you want the explosions, boys — but try for accuracy, please?" K asked as she set up her own rifle — which was rare for them to see this early in the session.

"Hey, come on, I'm hitting them dead on," Chance pointed out.

"Great. Keep everything within the diameter of a quarter," K replied before she laid down to prone and pulled in the rifle in a different manner than they'd seen before, her left hand cradling the butt of the gun.

"What's the deal there?" Chance couldn't help but ask, tipping his head toward the gun.

"Practicing my sniper range," she said quietly. "About half a mile past your targets."

Chance's eyebrows shot up, and Cody smirked. "Can I?" Chance asked, ignoring his brother.

"Sure," K replied before she started to slow her breathing. "It's a different world. But … it's time I brushed up." She took her time, and when she finally pulled the trigger, it took a solid couple of seconds before they saw the plume of white go up down range.

Cody let out a low whistle. "Okay. I wanna try that too."

"Targets are only about the size of my fist," she warned.

"I'm up for it," Chance promised quickly.

"Of course you are," K said with a little laugh.

"I mean, come on. If I'm gonna go by 'Shadow'... I should learn some sniping. It's like, calling my name, K."

"Have you been meditating at all?" K asked.

Chance shook his head. "A little, with Charlie, when she needs it."

"Good," she said with a nod. "Because the trick to long-distance sniping is making sure that your timing is perfect. You don't jerk the trigger. You just keep easy, steady pressure right to the breaking point … and you don't squeeze until you hit the sweet spot between both breaths and heartbeats."

"Alright," Chance said, nodding. "That… is gonna take some practice, but … let me try, please?"

"It will," she agreed. "Give me two more shots and then I'll show you how. In the meantime, pay attention to the grip. That'll save me having to explain it later." She racked in another round and jerked her head so he would come closer. "Instead of pulling the gun in, you cradle the buttstock with your left hand and lean into it. Don't worry about the kick. It _will _kick you. Hard. What's important is the shot. And the timing." She paused and glanced over at him before going back to the scope. "And … this is a much bigger gun than I've let you use before."

"I'm a little bit taller than I used to be, K," Chance said with a smirk.

"Yes," she said, her tone dripping in sarcasm. "Because height has oh, so much to do with it."

He laughed out loud. "Probably helps with carrying it, though," he teased.

"Not when you have eager assistants to do it for you," she countered with a smile before she started to explain the basics of the breathing and how to slow his heart enough to get the shot in right. "At this distance, even a relaxed, easy heartbeat can blow the shot. So you cycle your breathing. You pay attention to your heart — and you pull the last bit of the trigger when you hit the spot between both. If you miss it? You have to wait for the next one. And don't try to do it until you've found the point where it loops and you go through it at least half a dozen times."

Both of the Summers boys were nodding with wide eyes. "Yeah, we'll have to get the breathing right before anything else," Chance agreed.

It took K a minute or two, but they could almost see the moment she'd made the decision — a split second before she pulled the trigger and stayed right where she was, her eye in the scope. "Also, if you're going to learn to snipe … you need to learn to _stay down _once you take the shot."

"Why?" Cody asked with his head tipped to the side.

"So that the guys on the other side don't spot you." She tipped her head to look up at him from the ground. "This … isn't exactly recreational shooting."

"Good to have someone who knows how to do it, though," Chance pointed out.

"I did _not _say it wasn't fun," K replied.

"Well, yeah, I thought that was a given," he pointed out with a crooked smile.

"One more," she said, racking in the next round. "This … may be a red one."

"_May _be." Cody grinned.

K smiled to herself as she lined up her shot, and again, she didn't warn the boys before she took it — and blew up a plume of fire well down range. "There are four more down there."

"Mind if I try?" Chance asked. "I mean, I might not hit anything first go…"

"Sure," K agreed. "It's probably high time you tried out the .50 cal."

Chance broke into another crooked grin as he let K take him through what he needed to do, though he couldn't help but be a little taken aback — and caught in a disbelieving sort of grin — at how _big _it all was, and not just the gun. "Oh, Mom's gonna be jealous."

"Your mom's shot it," K told him.

"Of course she has," Cody laughed.

Chance grinned at Cody as he lowered himself to the gun and followed K's instructions, nodding and looking perfectly concentrated — though after that first shot, even when he hadn't hit anything, he couldn't help but grin at her, purely fueled by adrenaline.

"You know it's gonna be harder to get close when you're smiling that hard — and you know what's coming," K pointed out before she handed him another round.

"He can't help it," Cody said with a smirk. "Adrenaline junkie."

"Takes one to know one," Chance shot back as he tried to at least pretend he wasn't grinning wide enough to break his face to take the next shot. He could only really do two after that first one, though, before he was done. He hadn't hit anything, and it really was a wicked thing to shoot — but he was still grinning like mad.

"Do you want to try today, Cody — or did you want to see what colors your brother turns first?"

"Kinda doing both right now, right?" Cody grinned.

"More or less. I'm going to guess he'll go all the way to black around the edge where the stock hits, with a white ring and purple in the middle." K was smiling at Chance. "Ah... careful. It kicks."

"Yeah, I got that," Chance chuckled, shaking his head — and his arms.

"You might want to finish this session left-handed," K pointed out. "Another good skill to have."

"Sounds fun," Chance agreed as Cody stepped forward.

"My turn?"

"You bet," K said, waving him over to get him settled in right.

Cody grinned over at K as he hunkered down to take the shot — and just like Chance had done, he hadn't hit a thing. Still, he couldn't stop grinning after the first shot, though he held up his hands after that, the glasses a little redder than normal. "Okay, no, I'm done," he said.

"It's okay, stoplight face," Chance said, clapping a hand on Cody's shoulder.

"I hate you so much sometimes," Cody said, glaring over at Chance.

"Mmm, no, can't really see it. Must be the glasses. Loses something in translation," Chance shot back without missing a beat before he laughed and scooted off before Cody could hit him.

K took her place back from Cody and smiled to herself before she racked in the rounds she'd need to finish out that line, steadied her breath, and hit the last few targets in quick succession, with only what sounded like a beat between each explosion. "Are we here to shoot or to play?" K asked before she got up.

"We _did _shoot," Cody pointed out. "Can't we joke between shots?"

"You didn't clear your targets," K pointed out. "And I killed all of mine."

"We'll hit ours," Chance said. "Just wanted to try something new, come on."

She gestured to where the guns were still on the bench. "Be my guest. When you're done, we'll head to the backstop by the nearer targets and see if we can find a few bullets."

The two Summers boys both headed off to do just that, both of them grinning — even when Chance was taking the shots left handed and not doing nearly as well as he was used to. Still, the whole idea of trying something new was just adding to the great mood overall.

"You guys did really well," K told them as they finally started to pack up.

"Thanks," they said in near-unison, both of them still in too-fine moods to care that they were speaking in stereo.

"We should have more range days as it warms up," she promised, then gestured to the range after they'd put the guns in the Jeep. "Let's see if our expansion rates are everything they're supposed to be."

The boys nodded and grinned as they went with K down to see how the bullets had expanded, though they'd only found one bullet before, out of pretty much nowhere, there was an odd sort of tritone, like two voices laced one over another, singing, "_Don't move. Be still and silent._"

The voice was familiar to all of them, though it was losing a lot of Jana's sound to it, like Essex had superimposed himself over her. She appeared just a few feet away from Cody, looking incredibly smug, smirking over them before she stepped forward and simply started to pluck comms and phones out of their reach and crush them one by one.

But the second that she'd touched K's hip to take the comm, K let loose a low growl that seemed to reverberate through their bones. Sinister frowned at K and then shook her head lightly. "Willful," she murmured. "Just like the other one." She took a step back as she collected the phone as well and then strode over to where Cody was standing stock still and wide-eyed before she rested a hand on his shoulder, smirked, and then raised the other hand to blast Chance backwards several dozen yards — and at an odd angle, since he had been crouched down to pick up a bullet when he was frozen.

Sinister then turned to K, the smug look returning in full force as she kept one hand on Cody's shoulder. "_Finish him off,_" she sang. "_Kill the boy, and then clean up; I hate to leave a mess_."

As Sinister turned, the sound of K's claws echoed the forest, and Sinister didn't even bother looking over her shoulder as she disappeared with Cody — sure that the job would be done in short order.


	2. Disobedience

**Chapter 2: "Disobedience"**

K was positively shaking as she tried to fight the command Sinister had given her, every bit of her will dedicated to _not _listening to the order as she very slowly stalked toward Chance, who was sprawled out at an odd angle at the end of a trail of upended dirt that showed how hard Sinister had blasted him. She was growling as a means to _not scream_, but it wasn't doing Chance anything in the way of reassurance, since she couldn't verbalize it. At all.

The solid hit had done enough to knock some of Sinister's control out of Chance, at least - he'd just moved, after all, and not even the command to be quiet was going to stop the heavy breathing that gave away that he was hurt and clearly terrified, his eyes wide as he tried to push himself up.

K still couldn't stop her growl, though she managed, with great effort, to force out one word Chance's way. "Run."

So it was that much more frustrating to her when Chance's eyes went wider, and he almost minutely shook his head. He _was _trying to push himself up, but his right leg was buckled. Not to mention he knew that running _away _from any of the ferals if they wanted to catch someone was pretty much the worst idea ever.

She closed her eyes and held her breath as she tried to figure out how to get out of this. There was no way in hell she was going to follow that order. And she wanted to get moving so she could try to go after Cody … She just didn't know how she was going to get herself to _stop. _

Her lip curled back in a full-on snarl as she moved closer and drew an arm back, and for a second, the only thing Chance could do was look at K in pure terror. He closed his eyes tightly, sure he was dead as the sound of her claws slicing through the air met his ears followed by the horrible almost-thud as she sunk them in — to herself.

It was a nasty injury, high enough that she cut through several major vessels and effectively dropped herself on the spot. But it broke the hold that Sinister had over her.

Chance was stunned when he opened his eyes and saw what K had done, though it took another few seconds before he could even really get his wits about him enough to do more than _stare. _Finally, he tried to move again, scooting over until he could check for a pulse at K's neck until she could come back and … and...

He shook his head, his mouth totally dry, though the shock was definitely helping to erase any commands left from Sinister. Still, he _couldn't _really go anywhere, and he'd left his voice somewhere back where he'd been hit and skidded across the grass. For a second, he ducked his head and covered it with both hands, trying to get a hold of himself before he had a solid _freak out_, since he was the only conscious one there, but it was still a good few minutes before he looked up again.

"We have to get out of here," he muttered, even though K was unconscious, though considering the state they were both in and the fact that their comms and phones were gone, that just wasn't going to happen, at least not until K could come back from healing or someone came to see why they were late getting back from the range.

When K did finally start to stir, the first thing she did was scramble _away _from Chance — at least until she caught her breath and took stock of everything. She was already running through her options as she turned Chance's way, teetering on a total freak out. "Did I ... "

Chance shook his head quickly. "No," he said. He took a deep, steadying breath. "Thanks," he added, looking completely relieved — especially on seeing that K seemed to be out from under Sinister's spell.

She looked his way for a moment, and then seemed to be picking the best route — though if it was to the car to look for a spare comm or how hard it would be to get Chance back to it, there wasn't a good way of knowing. "I couldn't smell her."

"You can't smell Eleanor," Chance said, trying to sound calmer than he felt, because he'd seen almost that exact expression on Elin's face before — though he'd _never _seen it on K. Not that he blamed her; he felt like screaming himself now that he had his voice back.

He couldn't be sure if what he'd said sunk in, though, since she didn't seem to react to it at all.

Chance took a deep breath. "K?" he prompted.

"I just … I'm not sure where to start." All at once, she turned toward him and stared at his leg that he was so clearly trying not to jostle. "What's broken?"

"Just below my knee," he said.

She nodded and got to her feet. "Don't try to do anything. I'll be right back." She headed across the range, obviously taking a moment to at least _try _to scent out Cody's path, but of course, there was nothing.

Chance lay there waiting as he listened to the sound of K pulling the Jeep as close to him as she could. She left it running as she got out and started to get him upright. "No comm in the Jeep, either," she said, sounding brusque but at least controlled. "Use me for a crutch. Don't let it touch the ground if you can help it."

Chance nodded, though he was almost torn between taking care of himself and taking care of K. K had taken a serious chunk out of herself with that move, and she was looking and sounding exactly like Elin, so he knew she wasn't okay either. "Dad's got a tracer on Cody," he said, leaning heavily on her.

"Good," she said, letting him set the pace so she didn't hurt him any worse than he already was.

For a long moment, he was just concentrated on getting to — and into — the Jeep, though once he was settled, he leaned back and closed his eyes for a second to try and calm down again.

K didn't say a word going out — and she was careful not to jostle him too much going down the two-tracks until they hit pavement — and then it was all bets off, and Chance was sure she was making her best effort to bark the tires in every gear, speed limit obviously forgotten. When they pulled into the garage, she threw the parking brake on and was out of the Jeep before the engine had caught up to the fact that it was off. She yelled for help and returned to Chance, looking outright pale.

"Stick with me?" Chance asked, knowing it was the best bet to get her to go even near Hank's lab.

"Yeah, of course," she muttered before Kurt appeared behind her. "He's got a broken leg. Cody's ... _gone._"

Kurt frowned between the two of them, though he didn't need much more prompting than that to simply teleport both of them to Hank, making sure to hold Chance up as he called for Hank and then turned to the two of them. "What happened?"

"Sinister," K said, shaking her head. "We were done. We were _done._ Heading back, even. And he showed up and took all of our comms." She was doing her best to force herself through her report, but she was still upset at having _lost _one of Scott's boys.

Kurt frowned deeper as he helped Chance to one of the beds in the med lab and then didn't ask before he guided K toward one as well. "Then we're lucky nothing worse happened," he said.

She shook her head and pushed his hands away. "_No_. He took Cody with him. And he broke Chance's leg…." She was clearly more upset than she'd let on to begin with, and the further she got away from what had happened — and the more time she had to think about how _little _she could do to fix it — the worse off she was.

"Dad's got a tracer in Cody's glasses," Chance broke in, trying to help. "Tell him what's up; you'll have coordinates, and you can _go get him_."

"Yes, of course," Kurt said quickly before he disappeared again, this time to go get Scott.

"I need to get a uniform on," K said to herself as she began to pace. "I gotta fix this."

Hank looked up at K with a slight frown before he waved her over. "K, if you could — this will be simpler if I have a second pair of hands," he said.

She looked up at him, almost holding her breath. "You're not doing anything without meds, are you?"

Hank scoffed. "Of course not." And to illustrate his point, he was already setting Chance up with some serious pain medication so that he could reset the broken leg properly.

"Then you don't need me," she replied.

"I never said it was strictly necessary," Hank said, "but it _will _be easier."

She bit her lip and crossed one arm over her chest as she thought it over and finally nodded. "What do you need?"

"A little assistance with resetting the bones," Hank told her frankly.

"Hank..." She was back to shaking her head at him.

"It's alright, K," Chance said, looking between the two adults with a frown. "I'm _pretty _sure the morphine's kicking in; I'll be fine." He even gave her a little smile to prove it.

But she didn't have a response, and she didn't have it in her to argue for the time being. So, she walked over to help Hank. As promised, it was a simple matter, and Hank was sure to ask K to act more as a distraction for Chance than anything else. Once his leg was all pointed the right way, Hank simply got down to work — and Chance for his part was halfway leaning his forehead onto K's side in an attempt at a hug when he couldn't move much while Hank was working. All the while, she was sure to rest her hand on the top of his head, though she was absently watching Hank work.

Hank was nearly done when the door to the lab opened, and Scott came in looking ready to go and obviously concerned when he saw not only his injured boy but the fact that K was still covered in her own blood. "What happened?" he asked.

"Sinister took him — and creamed Chance too," K said, though her tone was tight. "I can go. I just need to change."

But Scott was frowning at the look on K's face as he looked between K and Chance — who was still half holding onto K's sleeve. "That doesn't explain what happened to you," he said, gesturing to K's bloody clothes.

She shook her head and waved one hand. "It doesn't matter. It didn't really work."

"She did it to herself," Chance said, looking up to meet Scott's gaze. "To save me."

"What is he talking about?" Scott asked, his tone more urgent than before.

"It was a stupid command, that's all," K told him.

"He made you, what, cut into yourself for him?" Scott shook his head.

"No..." She shook her head, her face tipped downward. "No … I was supposed to kill Chance."

Scott froze as he looked between the two of them. "K…" He shook his head. "I've got Logan and Kurt with me — and Tommy for a quick escape," he said after a moment's pause. "Stay here with Chance."

"But this was on _my watch_," she replied, half breathless. "I have to fix this."

"K, no one blames you," Scott said. "And honestly, it sounds like the best place for you to be right now is with Chance." He paused, took a deep breath, and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Take care of him for me, please."

"You're trusting me with him?" K asked, looking as if she believed he'd completely lost his mind.

"K, I don't have time to argue with you," Scott said. "He's safe right here with you. If Sinister decides to come back, I'd rather not lose anyone else." He shook his head. "Besides, I think it would be better if you stuck around," he added, gesturing to Chance, who was still half holding onto K even for as doped as he was.

"I'll keep them both close," Hank promised when it was clear K wasn't going to respond properly.

"Thanks," Scott said before he turned on his heel and simply rushed out the door to go meet up with the others and head to Cody's tracking signal.

After a beat of silence, Hank looked between Chance and K and cleared his throat. "All that's left to do is to set the cast," he told them both.

Chance looked up at K. "Please stick with me?" he asked.

She nodded silently and gave his hand a little squeeze, sure to stay close by, though Hank was watching her almost as much as Chance was — with half a mind to ask Daisy to turn on the dampening field in the lab so he could sedate K for as shaken as she still looked.

* * *

When Sinister reappeared with Cody after the teleport from the range, it was in one of the houses that fit K's estimation of his 'hiding' style: tall windows, secluded, old-style architecture. She didn't take her hand off of Cody's shoulder until a couple Marauders arrived to do the heavy lifting for her of moving the young man, who was almost shaking in rage — which was no small feat, considering he was supposed to be under a command to be still and silent.

It wasn't until one of the Marauders took a solid hold of Cody that the command lifted. As Sinister waved a hand and told the other hulking brute to "make my preparations," Cody spit out a sharp, "bastard," through his teeth.

"There's no need for that kind of an outburst," Sinister said, shaking her head slowly as she removed her gloves.

But Cody was already trying to pull free of the massive Marauder. "You killed him," he said, on the verge of hysteria and still nearly shaking.

"No, _I _didn't," she argued.

"You killed my brother, and I swear, I'm going to kill you," Cody said, getting angrier with every word.

"No, my dear boy; you'll learn exactly how far off-base you are with that little statement soon enough. And the boy … well. Sometimes, evolution doesn't work fast enough on its own. Nothing of substance lost." She looked almost irritated. "An accident of nature. A _mistake. _That's all."

"He's my _brother_, you _son of a bitch_."

"Not anymore."

"You better hope I don't get out of this, because this whole house is coming down, and I'll make sure you're standing in it," Cody snapped back, his glasses glowing bright red and clearly showing that the only thing preventing him from leveling Sinister then and there was the fact that he couldn't reach to take them off.

Sinister sighed heavily. "I do hope that little rebellious streak doesn't take as long to stamp out as it did with your father. I have actual work to get done, you know."

Cody glared at Sinister with his chin thrust out. "Screw you and your 'work'."

"That's enough of that," Sinister said to herself before she snapped her fingers, summoning his men to pay attention. "Take him to his room. Restrain him once he's there."

Cody was still furious, though there wasn't much more that he could do other than to swear Sinister's way as the Marauders dragged him off to a room that was a lot like Charlie had described when it came to dealing with Sinister. Like, an actual bedroom — though instead of rows and rows of books like Charlie had described, there were thousand-piece puzzles and model airplane sets.

Which was _really_ disturbing the more Cody thought about it after the Marauders dropped him off and left him tied up to take in the surroundings. He had hardly told anyone that he loved models and puzzles, just for something to do with his hands when he'd get stuck on a math problem or something. His family knew… Leslie Ann knew… so Jana must have known.

And of course, once Cody was by himself, it was also much harder to ignore the growing panic and the creeping desolation that both seemed to be warring for control over his emotions. His dad had made him start wearing tracers, so he didn't think it would take too long before the X-Men got there, but he didn't know how long he'd be with Sinister in the meantime. They hadn't been able to call for help — and even then, he'd have to go back and face the fact that his big brother was dead.

Nothing was going to be the same in Westchester, and he knew it. Mom would be a mess. Dad … Cody swallowed. Dad was probably on the verge of another heart attack. Charlie would _never _recover. And K ... K was probably gone. After something like that?

Cody was just starting to let the misery really wash over him when he heard the telltale sharp, high whine of his dad's optic blast before the entire house seemed to shake, and he wriggled a bit to try and sit up. "Dad!" he started shouting, though it was one of Kurt's bamfs who found him first, following the sound after Kurt had sent them off to look for him while the X-Men dealt with Sinister.

One of the little guys got right up in his face and looked overly concerned at the fact that he obviously looked like he'd just been having a quiet breakdown. The little demon patted his cheek with a gentle 'bamf', waiting until his buddies had cut Cody loose before they simply teleported him into the middle of the Summers suite.

As soon as she heard the bamf, Annie came rushing over, simply throwing her arms around Cody to pull him into a relieved hug. He didn't bother trying to hide how upset he was either — it was his _mom_ — and nearly fell into the hug himself, holding onto her shoulders for some support.

For her part, Annie was simply and obviously relieved to see him, cupping his face in her hands before she kissed his forehead about half a dozen times. He didn't even try to stop her, halfway surprised that he wasn't the one to have to hold her up, all things considered.

"Let's get you to Hank," she said at last, though Cody was already shaking his head.

"I'm fine, Mom. I didn't get hurt," he promised.

"You're going anyway," she said, though she still brushed his hair back for a moment and simply had to hug him one more time before she all but seized his arm to lead him downstairs with her. And really, he wasn't going to argue with her.

"Is Dad okay?" he had to ask.

"Oh, I'm sure he's not," Annie said, shaking her head. "That man should never have gotten that close to you boys."

Cody paused and frowned Annie's way for a moment, but he didn't say anything about her reference to Chance being there as well, starting to feel his earlier misery creeping right back in as he followed her down to the lab. But he stopped almost cold when the first thing he saw when he came in was that K was absolutely coated in blood.

All at once, Cody felt sick, and he put out a hand to steady himself before he heard a familiar voice call out, "Gonna have to call you 'Christmas Face' if you're going to do the red _and _green at the same time."

Cody's head came up fast, and he couldn't even try to pretend he wasn't shocked when he saw that K was standing next to Chance — even if his brother _was _sitting in a hospital bed clearly doped up to his eyeballs. As Cody came closer, K simply stepped out of the way to give him a moment with his brother, and he all but dropped into a seat next to Chance, still looking stunned.

"No, seriously, maybe you should put your head between your knees or something," Chance said, shaking his head at Cody.

"Shut up," Cody said, still staring at him. "I thought you were _dead_."

Chance shot his brother a small grin. "Nope. Too cool to die," he said. "Besides, then who would give you grief over you turning the same shade as your shades around whatserface?"

Cody couldn't help but let out a frustrated sound that Chance was _still _trying to pick on him in the middle of all that had happened before he simply leaned over to wrap his brother up in a tight hug.

And while the two Summers boys were having a moment, K didn't get very far across the lab before an incredibly relieved Annie stopped her and all but threw her arms around K, simply letting out the relief that both Chance and Cody were alright. K stiffly returned the hug, but it was clear she was just ready to get _out. _She was relieved to see Cody back, but regardless of what Scott had said? She didn't trust herself around his boys enough to feel as if they'd be protected.

Still, it didn't look like it was in the cards for her to get out of there when the team came back shortly after Annie finally released K and wiped at her eyes. Thankfully, even though it had been a run-in with Sinister, for the most part, there weren't any major injuries — except for some serious bruising Tommy had managed to give himself vibrating a wall to pieces and getting caught in the rubble. Scott went straight to his family, making sure to check every single one of them himself, and pulling Cody into a solid hug now that he was back.

On her way out the door, Logan caught her — quite literally — and pulled her tight, where after just a moment, she positively melted down like she hadn't done in years, curled up into his shoulder and with zero concern on who might have seen her lose her composure.

* * *

Chance had finally drifted off before Scott felt like Cody had calmed down enough to pull him aside and talk to him — though Cody was a bit reluctant to say why he was so keyed up when Annie was around. Not that it was hard to figure out; he must have had, what, a few hours at least to himself believing Sinister had made K kill his brother.

"Your mom has some leftover pumpkin bread upstairs," Scott said as he pulled Cody aside, more as an excuse than anything else to get him moving around and to have a private chat with the boy.

He knew Cody couldn't possibly be alright; he didn't look like he was remotely fine in the least. But hopefully, he'd bounce back with a little time to process what had happened.

"You alright?" he asked Cody under his breath when they got in the elevator.

"I'm okay," Cody said, scrunching up his shoulders to his ears. "I didn't get hurt or anything."

"I didn't ask that," Scott pointed out.

Cody chewed on his bottom lip for a second and then leaned against the back wall of the elevator. "I dunno. I'm still mad as hell."

Scott raised an eyebrow at Cody. His kids didn't swear if they could help it — though that was more because Annie had been raised with certain rules about etiquette that went out the window in certain situations… like this one. "What happened?" he asked.

Cody crossed his arms, still with his shoulders pulled in tight. "Come on, Dad. The creep tried to murder my big brother. You can't tell me you're not mad about it too."

"Of course I am," Scott said, shaking his head and letting some of his irritation show as he crossed his arms. "You don't think I'm mad if he even gets _close _to you kids?"

"Yeah, well, it's different with me and Charlie, isn't it?" Cody pointed out.

Scott had to let out a breath and grudgingly agreed. "Not by much."

"Not by much?" Cody shook his head hard. "Dad, I had model airplanes, and Chance could have _died_." He threw up his hands to show his frustration. "And she didn't even _care_! She was _glad _he was gone! Like — like—" He started to shake his head. "She was insulted he even _exists_!"

Scott paused. "Wait. Sinister thinks Chance is dead?"

"Yeah, she was _happy _about it," Cody said, glaring hard and crossing his arms again.

"We might be able to use this. To protect you both."

Cody turned to face Scott and almost couldn't help but say, "I know Chance is really good and all, Dad, but I don't think even being a super-secret not-dead operative is going to help much."

Scott gave him a dry look. "Not what I meant."

Cody let out a long breath and finally looked up at Scott. "Okay, so… what?"

"So, Chance was talking about going to Europe. I think it'd be the perfect spot to hide the two of you for a while until the smoke clears."

"We're _hiding_?" Cody stared at him. "That's your big plan? Not bringing the roof down on her stupid, smug self?"

"Already did that," Scott pointed out. "We should consider it anyhow, at least until we can figure out how to work around the cloaking."

Cody leaned against the wall of the elevator with his arms crossed. "Alright," he said at last. "But… Chance is on the team. Someone's going to figure out he's alive sooner or later, you know."

"He wouldn't be the only one that isn't allowed out much," Scott pointed out. "We'll figure something out."

Cody nodded, again looking thoughtful. "And what about Charlie?"

"We'll have to talk about it as a group."

Cody nodded again as the doors opened and stepped out. "I'd rather just hit her," he told Scott honestly. "I don't like hiding."

"Nobody does," Scott said, resting a hand on Cody's shoulder as they headed down the hall. "Hopefully, it won't last too long."

"Yeah, alright," Cody said, letting his shoulders drop a bit, though he still let Scott steer him down the hall to grab something to eat.

* * *

Once Cody was settled out and relaxed enough to go to bed, Scott let out a breath and headed over to check in on K. It had been painfully obvious to him that she was trying to shoulder the blame, and he knew he had to put a stop to it before everything fell to pieces. But he didn't make it all the way to the Howlett's suite before he ran into Logan.

"I'm gettin' her out of here," Logan said with no preamble. "If I don't, she's gonna bolt, and I'll play hell tryin' to find her."

Scott nodded quickly. "Yeah, I can see it. Go."

"We're taking the kids with. Her request," Logan said. "But I'm shooting to come back inside of a week."

"Take whatever time you need, but don't just disappear. I don't need to worry about the whole family getting picked up."

Logan nodded and let out a breath. "Thanks, Slim."


	3. Sweet Summers

**Chapter 3: "Sweet Summers"**

"Welcome back."

Chance was surprised to find that Krissy was there when he woke up, her head tipped to the side and her tail swaying in the way that gave away how worried she was before she leaned over and kissed him hard — which was really not a bad way to wake up.

His head was a lot clearer now, too, since he was all taped up and didn't need the morphine drip, so he really got to enjoy getting a bit more involved with Krissy when she didn't _stop _kissing him outright either — which, again, was really not a bad way to wake up. At all.

When they finally broke apart, he couldn't stop grinning at her, even though she still looked a bit worried. "Hello to you too," he said, the grin turning into something a little more crooked.

"Oh, stop looking at me like that. I have every right to get worried about you when you almost _died_," Krissy said, rolling her eyes at him and then hitting his arm before she started making shooing motions with both hands. "Scoot over."

He grinned at her and shook his head but made some space all the same. "You know I can get around on my own if I just-" He gestured at the crutches Hank had clearly laid out for him nearby, but he didn't get to say anything more than that when Krissy caught him in another kiss once she was situated with him.

By the time that kiss broke, Krissy had moved so that she was pressed next to him, and Chance couldn't stop grinning, either. "Gee, Kris, I wasn't even in any real danger. What are you going to do if I get in _actual _trouble?"

"Oh, shut up," Krissy said, turning more purple than usual, though she didn't back off, either. "You could have died."

"No, I was with K," Chance pointed out.

Krissy shook her head. "That doesn't mean you weren't — gah!"

Chance grinned at her again and pulled her into another kiss, though just as they were starting to really get involved, there was the unmistakable sound of someone clearing their throat, and all at once, Krissy let out a little 'eep' and teleported to the chair beside Chance's bed instead of the space she'd just been occupying.

"Oh, hi, Dr. Blue," Krissy said in a higher voice than usual.

Chance was rather pink as well, but he made a slightly better recovery as he sat up from the bed. "So… is it alright if I head out?" he asked, gesturing to the crutches laid out nearby.

"Tyler won't be around until the weekend," Hank told him. "You'll need crutches. And take it easy."

"He'll be back before team practice, though, right?" Chance asked.

"Of course," Hank said with a little chuckle at Chance's priorities.

"Don't worry," Krissy chimed in, seeming to get her voice back. "He's got an Elf Express. Not like he can overdo it traveling anywhere in a blink. I'll keep an eye on him."

"I'm sure you'll get an award for your selflessness," Hank replied with a raised eyebrow look over his glasses.

"Oh yes. It's all out of the goodness of my heart," Krissy agreed airily before she simply _grinned _Chance's way, grabbed a hold of his crutches and his shoulder, and disappeared with him.

When they reappeared together in the living room, Krissy helped Chance get steady on his feet before she kissed him again, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. She was grinning up at him as her tail swayed behind her. "So," she said, the smile turning a bit more impish than before. "Where do you want to go?"

"Actually?" Chance said. "I wanted to find K."

"K?" Krissy frowned up at him with her head tipped to the side.

He smirked at her, knowing where her head was, and leaned down to kiss her properly. "I just want to make sure she's okay," he explained. "I got to see Cody, but I was kind of high? And I want to make sure she's not…" He shook his head. "Let's just say it was a hard day and I want to check on her."

Krissy let out a sigh but nodded. "Alright. Let me find her first so you don't have to limp around like a sad little Raggedy Andy."

"Thanks, Kris, I really appreciate the comparison."

Krissy grinned at him and then stole one more kiss before she teleported off to figure out where K had gone.

* * *

Upstairs, K was packing up for definitely more than a week or so like Logan had told Scott they were thinking about. Not that it was anything she was going to talk about with Scott. She didn't even want to be around him, let alone _talk _about anything.

Of course, Logan was on board to take a break and with the fact that they were taking the kids with them. Since they weren't exactly getting out to breathe much lately, the idea of a quick, painless, more _permanent _exit was that much more appealing to her.

She was still packing when there was a telltale _bamf_, though it wasn't Kurt like she'd expected. Instead, it looked like Krissy had simply dropped Chance off in the middle of their suite, and the young man took a second to look around once the smoke had cleared with his eyebrows raised. "Are you leaving?"

K glanced up and simply went back to it. "Yep."

"How long?" Chance asked.

"Um … that … was between Logan and your dad."

"I sort of slept through the last little bit; there's no way I could know anything like that," he pointed out as he made his way over on the crutches to where she was and frowned at the size of the bag.

"I don't know what to tell you, sweetheart." K shook her head and finally turned his way.

"Well…" Chance shook his head for a second. "I'm glad I caught you before you left. I just… wanted to say thanks."

"For what?" K asked, frowning deeply. "The part where I missed the nasty bad guy, the part where I let your brother get snatched, or the part where I nearly took your head off?"

"How about the part where I'm still alive?" Chance said, gesturing to himself with one hand.

"Alright … sure. You're welcome … for that much anyhow."

Chance shook his head. "No, you don't get it," he said. He took another step forward on the crutches and then frowned when she stepped back. He closed his eyes, shook his head again, and let out a breath. "I don't think anyone else would have been able to do that," he said. "What if…" He looked almost pained. "What if it had been me and Cody and my _mom _out on the range? We go together a lot. And I _know_ she can't fight psychic attacks like you can, even if Nate and Rachel both have helped her out."

"Okay. Sure. How much morphine are you on still?"

Chance actually laughed at that. "So that's where Elin gets it from."

"I don't know what you mean," K told him.

Chance shrugged. "Hey, my best friend can't take a compliment, among other things. I pay attention." He sighed. "That's not — that's not what I wanted to say, though. I just…" He took a deep breath. "I just wanted to say thank you."

K had her eyes narrowed as she watched him. "You did that already," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but I don't think saying it once is really good enough when you had to stab yourself to save my life," Chance said. "And I'm sorry you had to do that."

She let out a scoffing sound. "Don't apologize for someone else's psychosis. And I heal. It's not even an issue."

"Yeah." Chance sat down on the couch. "But it hurts."

"It does. And I'm glad you're both alright," K told him. "But I think I'm going to have to renege on my promise for more range time. Or … any. Range time."

"Yeah, I don't think my parents are going to let me go anywhere for a while," Chance said with a sheepish look. "Cody too." He let out a breath. "Listen, Tyler's coming up this weekend to get me fixed up. Dad's probably not going to okay a field trip, but we were going to do a survival trip in a few weeks - maybe we can do some of it in the Danger Room?"

"I don't know," she said, letting out a breath. "We'll have to just wait and see how it works out."

Chance tipped his head to the side for a moment before he let out a scoffing noise, since clearly, he wasn't getting across what he wanted to say. "I'm not mad at you," he said. "It was Sinister, not you."

"I know," she said. "And that's kind of the whole point."

"I guess I don't understand then," he said. "I mean, Charlie still has lessons with Remy."

"That's a little different," K told him. "I don't think … this just isn't smart anymore."

"What?" Chance wrinkled his nose. "Mom's always saying she's not going to let him make us stop living, so I don't see what — I'm _not scared _of you, K," he said insistently. "I swear, I'm not. I know you'd rather die than hurt me — _I saw it_."

"I know. But this isn't just about you. I don't trust any of it."

Chance tipped his head to the side with a frown. He didn't like any of what he was hearing, but he didn't know how to articulate that. Logan and K and the whole family had always been his family too, and he just didn't know how to explain that in a way that she'd believe — he definitely hadn't figured out how to explain that to Elin, either.

"Elin should be back soon if you wanted to send her off," K told him.

"I really did come to talk to you," Chance said.

"And you did that — and you were very, very sweet," she replied. "But we might be gone for a while, if you really need to know."

"You're thinking about leaving, aren't you?" he asked dully.

She let out a breath and nodded.

"I wish you wouldn't," he said.

"I am … 99% sure your dad isn't going to hear it right now anyhow," K pointed out.

"Yeah, but I'm not just saying because my dad wants you around," Chance said.

"I know. You're a doll," she replied before she sat down across from him. "Love you too."

Chance couldn't help but smile up at her at that. "I don't know what my dad's going to do after this. He was talking about sending Cody to Europe last time she showed up… or he showed up… or whatever."

"He'll do what he can to protect you - and Cody," she replied. "And if you're smart, you'll go along with it."

"Yeah, I know, I just… that's why I wanted to catch you before you left. In case I'm not here when you get back," Chance tried to explain, rubbing the back of his neck.

"You didn't need to say anything," K told him.

"Well, it kind of looks like you're ready to leave, and I didn't want you to think that I was scared of you — or blamed you — or anything like that and then not get the chance to tell you that if you disappeared," Chance argued. "He's already tried to break up my family once in the last twenty-four hours, and I'll be damned if I'm going to let it happen again."

"Strong language. You must be really ticked off."

"Yeah, well, that's what happens when a creep tries to mess with people I care about," Chance said, his arms crossed.

"That's a great impression of Scott. Just saying."

"Yeah, Mom keeps saying I look more like him all the time," Chance said.

"Well, rest assured, if we were to take off — it wouldn't be your fault. At all."

Chance took a deep breath and let his shoulders drop. "Please, just…" He looked back down at his hands. "I've looked up to Logan since I was a kid. You too. I don't want to lose you guys," he almost mumbled.

"Chance ... " She covered her eyes with one hand and let out a breath. "I don't think it's anything to worry about right now. There are a lot more important matters at hand."

"Yeah, I've always sucked at that, though," Chance said. "Prioritizing, I mean. I know I should put fighting evil first but…" He smiled up at her softly. "I'm a Hale too, you know. I know I look like my dad, but ... family's always first for me. It might not make me the best X-Man, I know, but I don't think I'm going to try that hard to fix it." He watched her for a second before he got back up and got his crutches underneath him, though instead of heading out, he hobbled over to where she was sitting and dropped down beside her to wrap an arm around her shoulders. "So… yeah. That's what I came here to say, I guess."

She leaned over and kissed his cheek, then pulled him into a much more solid hug. "You really are a sweetheart."

He just grinned into the hug. "Love you too."


	4. Separate Ways

**Chapter 4: "Separate Ways"**

Even though everyone had understood the need to do _something _to keep Sinister from trying to come after them again — and both Cody and Charlie had agreed vehemently that they didn't want a repeat performance of their kidnappings — the Summers kids were all apprehensive about the move to Europe. All three of them, besides Chloe, would be going, and it was clear they didn't like it in the least.

It didn't help that Charlie felt like she was giving up on all the hard work she'd done to be able to deal with being around the Westchester school — or that Cody wanted a _fight_ because he was still mad about how it had all gone down — or that Chance was sure the makeup of the team and their little family was never going to recover. Which was, in turn, dragging Charlie down even further and more or less making for a rather forlorn bunch of kids when the day came for the big move.

"I've already arranged it with Kurt that a couple bamfs can come with you, the way we keep a bamf with James when he's with Tony and Richards and Banner," Scott reminded them. "And team practices are still twice a month."

"Oh, I'm coming home every weekend," Charlie swore.

"Of course you are," Betsy agreed. She had personally come to meet Scott and his kids for the hand-off and was doing her best to give the kids positive reinforcement. She could hear each of them practically screaming in their minds that they didn't want to hide — not that she was surprised, considering their family history. "Your father would panic without you."

Scott smirked and shook his head at her as he waved her over. "Thanks for that."

"As if they didn't already know," Betsy teased.

Scott smirked wider. "Thanks for coming over on short notice."

"That's what we're here for, right?" Betsy said as Moira joined them — and did a much better job of positivity simply because she was a force of nature herself.

"Och, ye've all grown so much since I last saw ye," she said, already fussing over all of them as she came into the room. "Are ye all gathered up and in agreement, then?"

The twins in particular glanced at each other and seemed to share a silent conversation before nodding. "Yeah," Charlie said at last.

"No offense, but we're kind of hoping it's not a permanent thing," Cody added.

"Oh, of _course,_" Moira replied before she rested her hand between his shoulder blades. "But in th' meantime, ye get tae join me and learn about _proper _tea time." She gave Annie a teasing little smile at that.

"Oh, please, don't corrupt my children," Annie said, shaking her head but unable to stop her smile when Moira was in such a good mood. She could be infectious when she wanted to be.

"Oh come on, Mom," Charlie said with a smile. "I already know anyway." She smiled at Moira. "Tea time with Erik Lensherr," she explained.

"Och, yes," Moira said, nodding slowly. "He was wonderful to have around for a spot." She hedged. "At least … as long as Charles was along."

"I never met him," Charlie said. "But Erik told me stories"

"I know, and it's such a shame ye never got the chance, lass."

The three Summers kids shared looks before they grabbed their things. While Betsy was with them as they loaded up, Scott made sure to pull Moira aside. "Thank you," he told her honestly.

"It's my pleasure," she replied with a warm smile. "Besides, I dinnae know how else I'll ever get tae see tha wee ones fer as often as ye come by."

Scott couldn't help but smile self-consciously. "You know you're welcome here anytime."

"Aye, but I'm keepin' th' wee bairn ye sent me already in line." She turned to put a finger in his face. "It's nae as easy as ye'd think oot on a rock."

"I'm sure." Scott couldn't help but smirk. "Just like I'm sure they'll all stay in line for you."

"I dinnae give 'em a choice," Moira said with a wink before she gave him a quick, one-armed hug and kissed Annie's cheek. "Tea time's th' same as it always been, Mr. Summers."

"Maybe I'll have to come more often if you're holding my kids hostage," he teased.

"Is that all it takes, then?" she said, sounding perfectly surprised.

Annie chuckled and took Scott's arm. "I'll bring him by," she promised.

Moira gave them another wave and simply headed back to the hangar, leaving Betsy to say her goodbyes as well. "I'll be monitoring for anyone that tries to come near the island," she promised. _As clever as Sinister may be, I can still pick up on his thoughts easily enough. _

_Thanks, Betsy, _Scott said and looked genuinely glad to hear it. "Forge is working on an early warning system, too. The way Sinister teleports is different from Kurt and the bamfs and his kids — so unless Brandon's coming by to visit, once Forge is done, we should at least know if he's been here."

With that, Scott stepped back and watched with Annie as Moira and Betsy took off with their three oldest, then shook his head and turned back inside with Annie and Chloe.

* * *

_Ellie,_

_The house is so. Quiet. _

_Papa talked to the bamfs, I think. I can't bribe any of them into taking me to Europe after classes. I know Chance said they'd be back as often as they could get away with and still be considered "safe" by the adults, but … I can't … wait._

_Sying has been good to hang out with, but I'm trying not to monopolize his time. Penny is a sweetheart, and I think she and Sying are getting serious. I don't want to get in the way of that, even if Penny is beautiful and invites me to pretty much everything anyway._

_But it's just so quiet._

_I legitimately thought about 'porting across the Atlantic. I think I could do it. It would take… a lot. I'm still only getting about a hundred miles at my best 'port, and those wear me out. Maybe if I did 80 miles a port… I could do it. I just need to plan rest stops, right?_

_Anyway. I'm just a little bit disappointed. I feel like Chance and I have just started getting serious, and now I hardly get to see him. _

_And my best friend is gone._

_And it's just… quiet._

_I'm going insane._

_I miss you._

_Love,_

_~Krissy_

Krissy didn't even pause between sending off the email to Elin before she started one to Chance.

_Hey Chance!_

_I hope things are going okay in Europe and that you're settling in alright. Probably not TOO different, seeing as you and Cody are still sharing a room and everything, right? Papa said most of the staff there is from his old Excalibur team, and he thinks the world of them, so I'm sure you've got some pretty amazing classes out there too. _

_Things aren't the same without you around, though. And with Elin gone, it's pretty quiet around the house. The nice part is now that Gerry's going here, I'm working with him a bit. A couple of Hawkeyes doing some target practice, that kind of thing. His birthday's this week, but I don't know if that's one of the things you can get an okay to come visit for. It's so stupid, and I kind of want to run Sinister through or shoot her or something, but Mama keeps reminding me he's inside an X-Man so that _probably _isn't the best way to deal with it._

_Probably._

_Either way, I'll send you pictures if you can't come, and you should shoot Gerry an email to say happy birthday. He's still not dating anybody, by the way. I think that thing with Viper shook him up more than he lets on._

_I mean, not that I blame him?_

_Anyway. I really do miss you and hope you're okay. If this keeps up, I'm going to have to transfer out there or something, because email just isn't cutting it for me. _

_Miss you,_

_~Krissy_

As it turned out, it was still another couple of days before Krissy got a response of any kind - and she was starting to get honestly depressed about it. Though when Chance simply _showed up _at Gerry's birthday party, it was a significant step toward getting out of her funk.

She all but tackled him when she saw him and took him down to the ground and kissed him. "You punk!"

"What, should I not have come to the party?" Chance asked, though he was grinning at her crookedly and stole another kiss that she didn't even try to dodge even if she was mad at him.

"You didn't tell me you were coming!"

"Krissy, I'm not on _house arrest_," Chance said, shaking his head. "I'm not going to become a shut-in."

"You haven't written me back!"

"I thought you'd appreciate the surprise?" he offered with a small smile, and she let out a sound of pure frustration before she kissed him again and finally let him back up.

"I just hate you sometimes," she said, sticking her finger in his face.

He grinned and pushed her hand aside before he stepped in and swept her up in a long kiss. "Still hate me?"

"What if I say yes?" she shot back.

"Then I'd have to do that again."

"Then, yes, I definitely still hate you," she decided with an impish grin to mirror his as he pulled her into a long kiss.

"Oh good. That's definitely what I asked for for my birthday," Gerry said dryly, alerting the two of them to the fact that they had an audience.

Chance looked up from Krissy and grinned Gerry's way, though he was still half wrapped up in the purple elfling. "Sorry, Ger."

"Just don't do that to me when you say hi and we're fine," Gerry said, shaking his head at them both.

"He _is _blonde," Sying pointed out.

"None of you guys are funny," Chance said, though he was grinning.

"Of course we are," Gerry said. He looked beyond Chance to where Charlie and Cody were just catching up and waved to them. "Hey, Lottie! Cody, join the party. Don't expect tackles, though."

"I could if you needed them, but I won't _kiss _anybody," Kari said with a perfectly prim smile on her face.

"Only because the one you wanna kiss isn't here," Zoe teased as she joined the group.

"Only if she wants to 'port," Krissy couldn't help but tease her little sister.

"Gee, Kris, how did you start 'porting again? I mean, after the demon?" Chance whispered to her, and she turned to face him with a look of pure betrayal before he kissed her again.

"You mean someone trying to _scare _me all the time?" Krissy shot right back.

Chance grinned even wider. "It worked," he pointed out.

"You remember how I said I hated you before? I mean it now," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Uh-huh." Chance grinned at her. "You just want me to make it up to you."

"Well, yes, obviously."

"I'd tell you two to get a room, but you might take me seriously, and there are some things I don't want until I'm at _least _in my twenties — like the name 'uncle,'" Gerry said, loud enough that they could hear him over their flirting.

Krissy turned a brilliant purple, and Chance flushed pink. "You're horrible!" she accused him.

"Am I wrong, though?" Gerry shot back.

"Yes!"

"Yeah, and nobody had to remind you that the hospital wing isn't private, either," Gerry said.

Krissy turned an even deeper purple. "Who told you that?"

"A little fuzzy friend of mine. Purrs. Thinks you two should learn how to knock it off when her dad's trying to do his job…"

"Oooh, bad wording," Zoe said, wincing Gerry's way.

"_Not _what I said, Zo."

"Mmmhmm."

Chance rolled his eyes at the group of them before he made his way over and handed Gerry a wrapped present — a new arm guard for archery. "You still thinking you'll go all the way to combat class while you're here?"

"I think I'll still be taking defense and combat even when I go to NYU," Gerry said honestly. "If Hydra's breathing down my neck … even with Viper out of commission? I don't want to risk it."

"So that's where you want to go?" Charlie asked, sitting down on the other side of Gerry with a smile.

"That's where Tyler went," Gerry said. "And it's close, so I should be able to still take at least some classes here and stay sharp."

"Are you going to go out for the team?" Cody asked.

"Maybe." Gerry shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't think I would, but now it almost seems safer to be on a team than not to be on one. But I don't want to kill myself doing medical school and the team at the same time."

"I'm sure whatever you do, you'll love," Charlie assured him.

"Thanks, Lottie."

Cody leaned over to Kari to drop his voice down to a whisper and roll his eyes. "Oh, sure. _He _can call her Lottie, but when anyone in Europe calls her 'Charlotte', they get the _look_."

"He's been calling her that since they were kids," Kari pointed out.

"Technically, they're still kids," Cody replied.

"I mean _little _kids," Kari said, rolling her eyes at him.

"Okay, I don't know about you guys?" Nikolas said as he seemed to appear out of nowhere behind his big brother. "But I'm done with watching the heart eyes over here. Last one outside has to get the nose and hat for the snowman."

Chance and Cody glanced at each other. "You go ahead, Nik," Cody said. "We're sort of… indoor-only house guests."

"Fine. Then at least come hang out when we come back for hot cocoa?"

"For sure," Chance promised, though he was holding Krissy's hand still, and at the suggestion that the boys were staying inside, she simply teleported off with him.

"Oh. Great." Cody leaned back in his seat with his arms crossed.

Zoe sat down next to Cody. "I'll kick your butt at video games," she offered. "Or will you cry if a girl beats you?"

"That is so not a thing."

"Which part, the crying or the losing?" she shot back, starting to smile.

Cody shook his head at her. "Just pick a game."

* * *

It had been nearly a week since the Howlett family had disappeared into parts unknown. They were tucked into a very remote cabin that had to have been of K's choosing, judging by the way it was tucked right into the mountainside with the entrance hidden with trees. To even get into the place, they'd had to move part of a sprawling thorny barberry, which snapped back into place once the door was shut.

Even well before that moment, it was painfully clear that this was an area with zero wi-fi options. But that didn't mean James would be bored. He and Elin headed out to do the hunting while their parents set up the little hideaway — with Sadie and Malin helping to spruce it up while the bigger kids were out getting dinner.

The whole point of this expedition was obvious. His mother — somehow — had managed to get her confidence shaken, something that James had been pretty sure wasn't even possible. But … here they were anyhow. His father was leading the charge in repairing things, and the rest of them were there as back up. The girls were sure to snuggle their mom when Logan stepped away, but by the end of the third day of the second week, James was jiggling his foot when he wasn't working on something. Splitting wood or poking at the fire. Which wasn't his favorite thing to do.

It was a lot harder to take candid shots of his family in such close quarters. And harder still to do so when their guard was down … but that was about all he could do just to keep himself engaged and not going nuts. Especially since he knew that the elk that he and Elin had brought down would feed them for more than the time they were supposed to be there.

He'd managed some amazing shots — photos that he was sure his father wouldn't want getting out, but they were good, emotional shots all the same. So when he and his father took a very short break from the intense family time to go into the nearest town — or approximation of one, since it was about four days to the nearest tribal outpost, where no one there was outside of the tribe — James was quick to tap into the shoddy wi-fi connection to send a few of those pictures to Charlie. He wouldn't send them to Scott; it wasn't something that he needed to see. Not really.

But … Charlie … _she _could use the practice on deciphering emotions without being near anyone. So, James took the time — all the time it needed — to upload the photos and send them off without another word added to the email.

"You done yet?" Logan asked as he took a seat across from James at the table in the tiny cafe.

"More or less. I just need to check in with Tony real quick," James replied, typing frantically now that he had sent the photos to Charlie. "Just … five minutes."

Logan didn't argue the point, instead, cracking open a bottle of beer that he'd just bought. "Let me know when you're set."

James smirked as he watched his father over the top of his laptop and rushed through the last of what he knew he had to do before they headed out. The last thing he wanted to do was make his father wait. "Done," James said, snapping the lid shut. "Get everything?"

"Every bit," Logan agreed before he finished off the bottle and tossed it into the trash.

"You think we'll be another week?"

"Depends. Let's see how things look when we get back," Logan told him as they started out. "People screwing with you kids is more'n she cares to deal with. And the fact that she don't think she can trust herself?" He let out a sigh. "At least she isn't convinced disappearin' into the woodwork is the best idea."

"But she still wants to."

"Oh yeah."

James let out a sigh. "Well … would it be easier if me and the girls were back home?"

Logan stopped and gave him a raised eyebrow look. "You really think that the two of us _alone _with nothin' to do but get wrapped up is going to end with us comin' _back_?"

"You'd come _back,_" James said with a wave.

"Yeah, with another little sister for you."

"Oh. God, no... don't … Stop that," James said, scrunching up his face. "You two … no."

"That traumatic?"

"No. Just, for the love of God … try for a brother," James shot back with a smirk.

Logan had to chuckle at that. "Outta my hands, kiddo."

"I know. But still." James let out a sigh as Logan dropped his arm around the boy's shoulders. "Right. The world isn't ready for three of us. Especially when there are the three sisters and mom too."

"Likely not," Logan agreed with a hollow chuckle.


	5. Around the World in Thirty 'Ports

**Chapter 5: "Around the World in Thirty 'Ports"**

Krissy had been thrilled to see an email come in — even if it wasn't from Elin. She'd literally written _everyone _in her misery, even Gerry, who had walked down the hallway and thwacked her in the head and told her if she wanted to do something, he would personally drive her into town and they could go _do _something, so that had made her feel a little better about things.

And then she'd gotten an email from James in response to her incredibly long and rambling email about how much she missed that whole family and how it was so different now that all of them were gone _and _Chance was gone...

_There is no wi-fi here. Or electricity. Not without an 8 hour run. So do yourself a favor. Stop doing that … _thing _that you're doing. Go have some fun. For the love of GOD, go have some fun. Sending love from the brambles where the rabbits wouldn't go._ \- _James_

She had to laugh, because it was _such _a James response that she could almost hear him saying it out loud.

Either way, it was a relief to hear from _any _of them. Chance wouldn't say it out loud, but Krissy knew he was thinking the same thing she was — that the Howletts weren't going to come back. So even a short response from James… it was a relief.

_James! It's so good to hear from you. Seriously. I'm sorry there's no wifi. I hope you're not bored. I'm sure I sound ridiculous when I'm here with everyone and you're all… living in the woods. But on the other hand, isn't that good for you guys? I thought Elin said you had to go and clear your heads… and noses? So maybe you're enjoying yourself. I dunno._

_I know I'm supposed to … not… I don't know. I just miss you guys. I miss Charlie and Chance and Cody. And I hate not knowing when I'll get to see the people I love next. _

_I know that sounds pathetic. But hey, I love you guys. _

_See you soon, hopefully,_

_~Krissy_

Krissy let out a sigh and then pulled up another new message in her inbox.

_Hey Chance!_

_Heard from James today. Apparently, they're going totally technology-less, no wifi, no electricity, the whole nine. Which explains why we haven't heard from them, so that's something, anyway._

_It was great to hear from him, though. Totally going through withdrawals over here. I honestly think Kade is too. He wanted to show Malin when he accidentally got his tail tied in a knot. I swear, that kid is just… a walking danger zone. To himself. _

_I'm glad to hear you're doing alright. I doubt Captain Britain's going to be as good on the range as K, though. You'll have to tell me how it goes._

_Gerry's still doing target practice sims with me, but I think Kari's going the same route your sister did. More artsy than fighting. She'll be old enough to go out for the team pretty soon here, but I don't think she'll do it. Kaleb thinks it's an atrocity._

_He thinks everything is an atrocity, though. He just learned that word. And is obsessed. _

_Anyway… I think that's everything. Not really the same without you around. Or Elin. _

_Miss your face,_

_~Krissy_

It had taken her a longer time to write the email to Chance than it had taken to write the response to James, because she was trying not to sound too down when she talked to him — especially when she knew that he wasn't pleased with the arrangement either. And he hadn't done anything personally to deserve her ire, so…

She really wasn't _mad_. That wasn't what she was trying to keep from saying. The truth of the matter was that she was about a second away from putting a certain four-letter word beginning with "l" at the end of that last email — and she wasn't sure why.

She didn't write it, though, and she sent it off with a little sigh, curling up with her laptop as she pulled up the inbox — just in case she'd missed anything. She reread Chance's email on how things were going in Europe — he sounded like he was having a _blast _— before she shut her laptop and glanced up.

And realized that she had been sharing a couch in companionable silence with Nolan for the past… she didn't even know how long.

Krissy frowned at Nolan for a moment with her lip slightly pushed out. It wasn't that she didn't get along with Nolan; it was just… he wasn't who she wanted to hang out with. Not to mention it was just weird being around him without Elin when Elin was the reason she even cared to talk to Nolan in the first place.

And all at once, Krissy had had enough. She was _tired _of being separate from her best friend and her boyfriend, and she was tired of her friends being in constant peril, and she was tired of the wary fear that had settled over the whole school that was supposed to be her home.

She didn't really think it through before she simply teleported right out of the living room, making it about 90 miles out of town before she reappeared and took stock of herself… and started to grin. That really wasn't a bad jump. She could do more of those — and surprise Chance to top it all off.

Krissy tucked her hair behind her ear as the corner of her mouth twitched up into a smile. "Alright. I can do this."

With that, Krissy simply started to teleport — long teleports at the edge of her range — though she didn't push herself too hard, not when she knew that she had plenty of those jumps ahead of her. It was going to be a long trip, but she was sure she could do it.

The first few teleports were totally fine, but the first one that brought her over the Atlantic Ocean was a little disconcerting. The waves were far below her, and she only fell a few inches before she teleported almost on instinct.

That was pretty exhausting, too — and something she hadn't really thought about. She was teleporting high above the waves, but as soon as she appeared, she would start to fall. Which meant she didn't want to really take a break between 'ports.

She did a couple more of those before she started to worry and turned herself a little north. She should have planned out a pit stop.

The first 'port that really went wrong, though, should have been perfectly fine. She was plenty high up and had traveled a good seventy-five miles, but she hadn't realized that there was a storm brewing in the north Atlantic, and she had very little warning before she was hit by the giant wall of water.

It knocked her down hard into the ocean, and she was so shocked by it that she didn't think to teleport out of the water until her head broke the surface and she could breathe again and reorient herself. But then she was almost immediately hit again with a wave that knocked her under again.

She finally got her wits about her enough to teleport, but she ended up in the middle of a driving rain. The waves were high underneath her, and the wind had already blown her back several feet as soon as she appeared.

_Okay, this looks bad_, Krissy thought a second before another wave hit her.

The thing was: if her mental map of where she had been teleporting was correct, it was going to take her _way _too long to get back home. And after those last few 'ports in the waves and the rain, she didn't think she had another dozen left in her.

But she was pretty sure if she headed north, she'd hit land.

So Krissy closed her eyes and gritted her teeth before she changed directions, headed north, into the wind and the rain and the waves but at least toward land.

She got another few 'ports in before she got smacked by another wave and went under, this time longer than before. She was starting to really panic now.

By the time she saw land — even in the distance, she was worn out, and she didn't even bother trying to keep herself out of the water with that latest port, falling into the waves like a stone before she got up enough energy for one more 'port and made it to the beach.

It was still storming horribly, but she was too tired to care. She sat down right there on the beach, fell over sideways, and simply closed her eyes, shivering and wet and miserable and _done_.

* * *

The Howletts finally found their way back to the Institute, and though K wasn't entirely convinced it was the right move, the kids were glad to have the familiar walls around them again. And the heat. And the electricity. As it turned out, although they were wonderful campers, they certainly preferred _not _to have to go to extreme measures for fun in what still amounted to the dead of winter where they'd holed up in the mountains between Alaska and Canada.

Of course, seeing as they'd taken a small jet, their entrance wasn't missed by anyone that had been looking for them.

"Man alive, am I glad to see you guys," Gerry said, grinning at the group of Howletts as they came in.

"Why is that?" Elin asked, readjusting the strap on her shoulder.

"Krissy's been going through withdrawals," Gerry explained, shaking his head.

"Shouldn't you be waiting for someone else, then?" she asked with one eyebrow raised.

"Uh, no, I'm pretty sure the best friend withdrawal is a real thing, too," Gerry said with a smirk.

"Lead the way, Sunshine," she said as she caught up to him.

They didn't get much further before Kade came squealing around the corner to all but tackle Malin in a hug. "Oh. And I think Kade missed Malin too," Gerry said, completely straight-faced.

"I gotted my tail in a knot and you didn't see it!" Kade told Malin, his eyes wide.

"So do it again," Malin giggled.

"It was an _accident_," Kade said, shaking his head at her. "I dunno how I did it, or I _would_. My papa had to untie it for me."

"We were snuggled up for _days_," she told him quietly. "And it snowed almost the whole time."

Kade grinned. "That sounds fun and boring at the same time."

"It was nice, but I want _my _bed now."

"Okay!" Kade grinned at her. "Can I tell you about my tail while we go upstairs?"

"Uh-huh!" she agreed, linking arms with him before they tore off toward the stairs.

"Must be something about Elves," Gerry told Elin with a crooked grin.

"Yeah, that's it," she agreed as the two of them headed up as well.

The rest of the family was still unloading when Scott got to the hangar and couldn't help but grin when he saw Sadie spot him, so he dropped to a knee so he could catch her in a proper hug. "Good trip?" he asked K and Logan over the top of Sadie's head.

"Yep!" Sadie told him before she turned to give him a kiss on the cheek.

Scott smiled at her and ruffled her hair before he stood up again and looked toward Logan and K. "You doing alright?" he asked.

"Came back, didn't we?" K replied. "Fine. We're fine."

"I'm glad to hear it," he said honestly — though before K could pass him by, he snagged her by the arm too and pulled her into a solid hug.

She returned it, but had to ask midway through, "What's this for? I don't remember ever getting one of these after a flake-off trip."

"I didn't catch you before you left," Scott said.

"Okay. I don't recall you ever doing this _before _a flake-off trip either."

Scott smirked and stepped back. "This wasn't a flake-off trip. You needed to get your feet back underneath you. I'm just glad you've got your feet on solid ground again is all."

"Thanks, Scott," she said quietly before she gave him another squeeze and a kiss on the cheek too. "Always my hero."

The little group headed back toward the elevator — and soon after, K was leaning on Logan properly on the way upstairs. But Elin and Gerry had gotten a bit of a head start on them, and when Elin turned the corner to go to their suite, she had to stop short at the stream of angry, low, almost hissing German that was happening very suddenly a few doors down from where they'd turned the corner.

Kurt and Krissy were standing in the hallway — and Kurt looked positively livid talking to Krissy, who was dripping wet and shaking. Not that Kurt was much drier.

Elin simply stopped, at a loss on what the right move was. She couldn't exactly ignore that she had seen them — and she couldn't hide, since it was pretty clear when Kurt glanced over her way with a thunderous expression still on his face that there was no slipping off. So instead, she readjusted the bag on her shoulder and started to walk past the sopping, blanket-wrapped Elves.

"Hi, Ellie," Krissy said quietly.

"Hi Krissy," she replied just as quietly.

"Is nobody going to ask about the wet fur look, because …." Gerry gestured between Kurt and Krissy with a frown.

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen," Elin said. "Don't do that."

Krissy looked fairly miserable still, clutching her blanket to her shoulders, but since Kurt had at least paused in reading her the riot act for her admittedly very stupid decision, she glanced up at her father for a second before she reached over and pulled Elin into a solid hug.

"Oh, eew, seawater," Elin muttered quietly, just for Krissy to hear.

"Sorry," Krissy said miserably.

"I'm teasing," she replied with a tiny smile. "It's a far cry from figuring out what smells different after an avalanche. It's fine." She paused and glanced over at Kurt. "You gonna tell me what happened when you get cleaned up?"

Krissy nodded almost sullenly. "At breakfast, probably," she said, then glanced at Kurt. "I'm pretty grounded."

"That's too bad," Elin said a little louder than she had been talking before. "I'm still half frozen from getting caught in the blizzard on the mountain with Mom and Dad."

Despite everything, Kurt couldn't help but smirk her way. "There is a blanket for you if you want to join us for cocoa. We both need to be warmed up."

"Are you sure I won't be cramping your style?" Elin asked, looking perfectly earnest in her question.

"I'm sure we would need to warm up anyway."

"James snuck a few good pictures," Elin told him. "I think you'll like the one of Mom and Dad — they're both totally relaxed in it."

"Then I look forward to seeing it," he said. "But can you meet us downstairs. I still need a word with my daughter."

"Yes, of course. I need to get a shower and changed. No running water in that cabin. It would have frozen anyhow." Elin gave him a tight smile and then shot Krissy a look before she simply slipped past them and to her family's suite, leaving Kurt in a slightly better mood than he'd been moments before — though he was still obviously furious, even if he waited until Gerry had gone as well before he returned to his tirade.

"I don't even know where to _start_," Kurt said low, his tail swishing behind him. "You could have _died._"

Krissy nodded and clutched her blanket closer. "I know, Papa," she said quietly.

He put one hand on her shoulder and steered her toward their suite, where Kate was waiting to join in. She looked over both of the sopping Elves and couldn't help but look concerned over them first, though once she had given both of them coffee, she narrowed her eyes at Krissy and leveled an index finger her way. "_What _were you thinking?"

"I just… wanted to surprise … Chance and Charlie and Cody and… I just wanted to see them in Europe," Krissy said, holding the hot coffee close to her chest and tucking her knees in to get warmer.

"You remember what happened the last time you wanted to surprise your friends with a trip hundreds of miles away from home?" Kate asked.

Krissy's eyes widened, and then she looked nearly devastated and shook her head quickly. "That's not — you and Papa ... you both surprise people... "

"He can get there in one 'port," Kate said. "And you _know _you can't cross an ocean on your own, Krissy. What were you thinking?"

"The bamfs won't take me," Krissy said.

"The bamfs understand that they'll be _skinned alive _if they ever take our kids anywhere we don't know about," Kate pointed out.

"And that still doesn't explain why you thought you could cross an entire ocean without telling anyone," Kurt added. "You had no idea what the weather conditions would be, you had no one on the other end to look for you when you didn't show up — you're lucky your panic button automatically activated when you were submerged as long as you were!"

"She was what?" Kate asked.

Kurt looked thunderous as he looked up at Kate. "She ran into a storm over the Atlantic."

"You _what_?" Kate turned back toward Krissy and looked just as furious as Kurt did. "Are you insane?"

Krissy shrank back from both of her parents and clutched her coffee closer. She had _learned _her lesson. She _had_. She'd nearly drowned, and she'd nearly frozen, and she was miserable and wet, and she would never, ever, ever do it again. "I'm really sorry," she muttered.

"Do you have any idea — _Kristina Elli Wagner_!" Kate interrupted herself and threw both hands in the air. "You're lucky your father found you."

"I know."

"She's lucky no one was on the beach where she washed up," Kurt said, his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed.

Kate gestured wordlessly Kurt's way before she burst out with, "Do you have _any idea _how bad that could have been? Setting aside the fact that you could have drowned? Been lost at sea? Did you even know where you _were_? What if there _had _been someone on that beach? We're in the middle of a crisis where governments are kidnapping mutants, and you just show up on a beach and _you don't even know where you are_?"

"I'm really sorry, Mama," Krissy said quietly. "I didn't think about that."

"You're not a little girl anymore, Krissy," Kurt said. "You're growing into a young woman — and you have to start acting like it. You can't act on every whim just because you're used to being able to 'port to wherever the fun is in an instant."

Krissy nodded. "Okay."

Kurt and Kate shared a look between them before finally Kate tipped her head and nodded Kurt's way. "You're grounded," Kate told her. "And I mean grounded. School, team practices, that's it." She raised a finger to point at Krissy. "And if I hear a whisper of you 'porting anywhere you're not supposed to be? I'll take you with me to LA and enroll you there. Off the team."

Krissy nodded quietly, feeling even more miserable than before. "Yes, Mama," she said, because saying anything else would get her in trouble, and she knew it.

* * *

Elin took her time getting washed up and dressed in clean clothes, sure to put on a warm hoodie and jeans with fuzzy socks before she headed downstairs. She knew that Krissy was getting read the riot act from whatever the heck she'd done, and there was no way that she could be "late" for hot cocoa when Elin knew Krissy was going to be chewed on.

She had no idea what Krissy done, but it didn't look like it was her smartest idea … and the fact that she and Kurt both were soaked to the bone … well. The last time she'd seen Krissy that miserable — and that wet — it wasn't any fun for Elin either.

So once her hair was mostly dry, she pulled it back and braided it quickly to one side and headed downstairs, still a little bit chilled from the extended almost-camping trip. It was warm in the cabin, and there was no trouble there, but going from the cabin to where the jet was stashed ... and then factoring in how cold it was once they were _in _the jet … it would take a while to warm up.

Finally, Krissy came down with both of her parents, still looking rather miserable, though at least Kate and Kurt looked like they had moved on from livid into something a little more settled. Kate got the cocoa down from the cabinets and started to get out the mugs as well — and even made sure to kiss Elin's forehead as she passed. "Welcome back."

"Thanks," Elin replied with almost a sigh. "Has it been that boring around here?"

"Oh yes. Obviously," Kate said, rolling her eyes.

"Well … at the risk of ticking you off again? Can I ask what happened?"

Kate glanced toward Krissy, who seemed to shrink in with her shoulders again, but when Krissy met Elin's gaze, she cleared her throat. "I… It was stupid. I just wanted to go to Europe."

"For what? Stuck-up people with too much perfume?" Elin asked, crinkling up her nose.

"No… I wanted to go to Muir Island," Krissy explained. "And… surprise Chance?" She shifted in her seat. "I didn't get very far."

Elin looked completely shocked. "Why would you do that? Was he _dying_?"

"No," Krissy said, wrinkling her nose at Elin.

"Did I miss some kind of terminal illness?" she asked, sounding more upset and looking horrified. "Is it anthrax?"

Krissy's eyes were wide as she shook her head. "No!"

"Well … it _can't _be just … for .. for some _boy._" Elin looked offended at the very idea, one hand over her heart as she took a step back. "Please tell me it's not that … you didn't like … get a brain sucker from another planet that just.… Oh, God." She covered her face with both hands and did her very best, well-over-the-top sob just before she lurched forward and all but draped herself from Krissy's shoulders. "_What am I gonna do when you totally lose your brain?_"

Krissy looked totally stunned by the display and was almost absently patting Elin's shoulder — though Kate wasn't even bothering to hide the fact that she was laughing, ducked under the table, even if Kurt was hiding behind his hand.

"I … I just can't … _didn't your mother ever tell you?_" Elin said breathlessly. "You can't … just … let some _boy _pick your path! You have to show them who's in charge." She slid to the floor — though as she did, she snatched a flower from the vase that contained a bouquet that Nolan had gotten her just before they left. She clutched the little daisy to her chest and went otherwise limp on the ground. "You're … _killing _me…"

Krissy just stared at Elin as Kate simply slid to the floor holding her stomach with barely-repressed laughter — and Kurt wasn't far behind.

"I — I — I'm not—"

"You _are. _I'm dying of embarrassment for both of us."

"I just wanted to do something _nice _for him," Krissy said, turning even brighter purple than usual.

"Oh!" Elin clutched at her heart again, grimacing. "You have it backward; he's supposed to bend over sideways for you!"

"It goes both ways, you — you ridiculous — you!"

"Ack!"

Krissy stared at Elin, who was even holding her breath for the full effect. "What… is even happening right now?"

"Well," Elin said, propping herself up on her elbows. "Since you don't seem to _pay attention, _I thought if I was a little more … well, like you, drama level-wise, you might listen."

Krissy shook her head at Elin and then wrapped her arms around her in almost a tackle. "You are ridiculous, and I love you, you know that?"

"I love you too," Elin replied easily. "But really, Kris. Let him come to you. Seriously. You're more dignified than … chasing some boy." She stuck her finger in Krissy's face. "Yes. It does go both ways — but seriously. Go smaller than 'port the globe.' Try … I dunno … maybe just an old-fashioned letter. He's probably never gotten one."

"Considering how grounded I am, that's probably not a bad idea," Krissy said with a little smile before she hugged Elin again. "You're just… I missed you so much."

"Oh really?" Elin challenged. "Because you weren't porting northwest."

"I didn't know where you _were_!"

"How many times have you been to Muir Island?" she asked.

Krissy bit her lip. "I… I know where it is."

"Uh-huh," she replied.

"Okay, so I really, really, _really _messed up," Krissy admitted.

Elin shook her head as Kurt handed her a cup of cocoa. "Didn't even get the direction right."

Kurt smiled as he sat down beside her and kissed her forehead. "And you won't even go out for the school play," he teased, the laughter still evident in his voice.

"I would never remember my lines," Elin told him as she leaned into him for a snuggle.

"No, but the improv was brilliant," Kate giggled, sitting down next to Krissy as she finally got herself under control, though she was wiping tears from her cheeks.

"Well … it's not exactly new," Elin said with a little smile.

"And brilliant all the same," Kate said, then toasted Elin with her mug. "Glad you're back."

"Pretty sure we saw one of Mom's more hidden hidey holes," Elin told her. "We had to work around a bush to find the door."

"That bad, huh?" Kate asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It was nice," Elin defended. "Warm and quiet … and Mom and Dad both _relaxed._"

"Then I'm glad," Kate said with a smile. "If that's the case, maybe you'll get another brother and she'll leave me alone," she teased.

"That is the joke," Elin said easily. "But I wouldn't bank on her stopping any picking. I mean … you have time. She's still not entirely herself, but … you know."

"Oh, if she stopped picking, the end times would be upon us," Kate said with one hand on her heart.

"She hasn't been picking the whole time," Elin said, copying Kate's movement. "We're all so dead."

Kate laughed. "Well then. Guess that means it's time to live it up," she teased, grinning Kurt's way as he started to nod.

"Oh, absolutely," he agreed — and in two teleports, they were gone.

Krissy laughed and leaned over to hug Elin. "You're a magician."

"I … just pointed out that they aren't the only ones that are worried about some of your choices," Elin replied. "They need to know we're not encouraging you to do ridiculous things. Why in the world did you get … what? I mean … come on. You were really going to try to 'port what … three thousand-ish miles?"

"I really wasn't thinking about the numbers," Krissy said, shaking her head. "I was just… tired of ... I was just…"

"Oh man. If you're bored, you have a kitten in your suite. Teach it to bite your sister or something."

"Princess doesn't bite," Krissy laughed, shaking her head. "And it's not the same and you know it."

"Then maybe you need a dog? Sir Lucky the Fourth?"

"Ellie!" Krissy laughed even harder. "No! It's just that I was … I was just…" She took a deep breath and centered herself. "Okay, so there are some things I just don't want to tell my parents? Like how I legitimately almost signed an email to Chance with a certain four letter word and… yeah."

"Yeah, that is _not _something you want to admit to after trying to 'port across the Atlantic."

"I'm just telling you where my head was," Krissy defended.

"So … next time, you need to do something else before you act on something like that. You're not _old enough _to really love anyone."

"I… I guess so," Krissy said. "But that doesn't change the way I feel, either."

"Of course it doesn't," Elin said, looking as if she was insulted at the insinuation. "But you just sit on it. Make him say it first. _Really_."

"You really think so?"

"Um … _yeah_. You're the one getting into trouble because you're trying to see him. If he has any brains at all, he'll say it first."

Krissy nodded and then rested her head on Elin's shoulder. "Have I mentioned lately how much I love that you're my best friend?"

"No, you haven't mentioned how much you love your _second _best friend, no."

"Who do you think is my first?" Krissy asked, wrinkling her nose.

"Well that's gotta be Chance," Elin replied. "I'm two … maybe three behind Sying."

Krissy laughed and shook her head. "Elin," she said, "I may be in love, but that doesn't change who my best friend is. I mean, look at our parents!"

"I still say I'm two or three," Elin replied, shrugging.

"I'll get you a framed list so you don't forget," Krissy teased.

"Make sure it's dry-erase so you can update it regularly," Elin teased right back.

Krissy rolled her eyes and snuggled in. "Whatever, Elin. I'm just glad you're back."

"You know … there were a few days there that Mom had Dad convinced …"

"Nope. Not gonna think about that. Just gonna snuggle the bestie on my last night of freedom."

"I'm just saying: it was a real possibility." Elin settled in with her, not really arguing any of it. "Then I would have dropped to five or six …"

"No, you would have been engraved in gold at the number one spot, and I would have been wistfully sad about it every time I saw it."

"So until someone figured out to hide it in the closet?" Elin giggled.

Krissy laughed. "No, no. I'd find it again." She snuggled in deeper and let out a contented sigh, glad that Elin was back, even if she was totally grounded.


	6. A Princess and Her Tower

**Chapter 6: "A Princess and Her Tower"**

"Alright, listen, fellow Hawk—"

Krissy let out a groan as Gerry sat down next to her at breakfast and put her head on her arms. "Not you too."

"Hey, if you're going to be completely ridiculous, somebody's got to step in, and you don't have an older brother…"

"Gerry, please."

"I'm just saying," Gerry said.

Krissy picked her head up off her arms and glared at Gerry. "Gerry, I'm really not in the mood."

But that had Gerry grinning and leaning closer to her. "Yeah, but that's what started this whole thing, isn't it? You _were _in the mood."

Krissy's jaw dropped. "What."

"If he tries anything, I'm gonna kill him. I'm just warning you now," Gerry said, as if he hadn't just said anything.

"Wait a minute!" Krissy stared at Gerry, her eyes wide. "You can't—"

"Yeah, I can. I've been doing a lot of training and—"

"Okay, first of all?" Krissy leveled a finger at Gerry and poked him in the chest. "No. You can't take Chance down. He's been training since he was five, and he's an amazing shot, and he knows all sort of tricks, and—"

"I get it, Kris," Gerry said, shaking his head at her. "You think he hung the moon; I figured that out when you tried to cross the Atlantic just to say hello!"

"Well, it's _true_," Krissy insisted. "He's amazing, and he could wipe the floor with anybody!" She paused. "Except Elin."

"You really need to get your priorities sorted out, Kris."

"Says you."

"Says your parents."

"Um, Gerry? I already have parents. You don't need to help."

Gerry reached over and patted her shoulder. "Gotta give you a hard time, Krissy. That's just… that's just how you learn."

"I hate you so much right now."

He grinned. "Love you too."

* * *

_Summerseses- _

_Hope you guys are enjoying the European adventure. I've been reliably informed that I need to fill you in on what's happening in Westchester. _

_Generally _— _the usual. We're overrun with new kids, and Krissy is Level 9 grounded. She's like … two steps from Level 10 _— _which I'm pretty sure involves an actual tower guarded by a dragon - and Kitty's already offered up Lockheed. So. It's serious. Don't expect any emails or anything from her until she's properly atoned for her sins. _

_So. That's …. Really all I have to say. None of it should shock you. _

_~Elin_

Chance shook his head over his phone after he read the email — which was addressed to all three of the kids out on the European campus. "Wonder what happened," he muttered to Charlie.

"Knowing Krissy? Anything is possible," Charlie pointed out. "For all we know, she decided to pop over to Salem Center and get the coffee her mom hates just to bug her."

"You're confusing her with Kade."

"They're practically the same person," Cody pointed out. "Like Charlie and Chloe."

"Must be something about the oldest and youngest," Charlie sniffed.

"Or something," Cody said with a smirk her way.

Charlie rolled her eyes at both of the boys before she wrote up a quick response.

_Hey, Elin!_

_Thanks for letting us know. I'm sure Chance would have been busting down doors wondering if she was okay if she went for much longer. (Don't laugh _— _he's giving me a look right now.)_

"I am not," Chance said.

"You so are."

_Anyway, it's great to hear from you, but tell Krissy we all love her over here across the Atlantic. And if we see a dragon next time we come over, we'll know what happened._

_Love,_

_The Summerses(es)_

Chance leaned over Charlie's shoulder as she sent off the email. "You're ridiculous."

"You _so _would have been busting down doors, so don't even try to pretend you wouldn't," she replied serenely. "I remember how you were when she and Sying got kidnapped."

"Yeah, well, I…"

"Uh-huh." Charlie raised an eyebrow at him, and he rolled his eyes and shoved her in the shoulder.

"I've got flight time with Northstar," he said.

"At this rate, he's not even going to want to go home again," Cody muttered to Charlie.

"Like you're not crushing on Miss Guthrie."

"Shut up, Charlie."

"She's way too old for—"

"Shut _up_, Charlie," Cody said again, flushing bright red to match his glasses.

Charlie smirked at him and then ruffled his hair as she got to her feet. "Sorry, Codes. You can't hide anything from me." She tapped the side of her head, though he responded by lifting up his glasses and blasting her slightly in the shoulder — he was getting better at the control so it was more like a shove than anything, but it was enough that she had to stick her tongue out at him. "Real mature."

"What can I say? _You're _the grown up one," Cody shot back, both of his hands raised before he ducked out to get to his own class on psychic defense with Betsy.

* * *

The morning of Elin's birthday was kicked off with a snuggle from her baby sister, Malin — and after that, it was a quick succession of more of the same from the rest of the family, along with a promise from her mother that she'd gotten a new saddle.

"You need it to upgrade to the better barrel horse," K said with a shrug. "You know. For if the little caution tape ever gets lifted and we can go hit a few rodeos for fun."

"Oh. So like … next to never," Elin said in a thoughtful and totally sarcastic tone before she gave her parents a long hug. "I'm sure it's perfect — thank you."

She zipped back to her room and changed quickly,only to come out in a new dress that Kitty had sent to her — yellow, of course. The note attached to it was sweet and simple.

_For my sweet little sister. Let me know if you have any trouble from the time-share gift too. He's been crabby lately. Make sure he gets plenty of sweets and he'll be fine ~ Love, Kitty_

Elin smirked to herself once she was dressed and picked up the heavy leather jacket that covered up the snoozing purple dragon. "Are you ready to give Krissy a heart attack with me, Lockheed?" Elin asked — and the little dragon let out a wide yawn that ended with a curl of smoke out of each nostril. "This is so going to be worth the pictures we're sending to the Summerses."

Lockheed climbed up onto her shoulders and curled his tail around one arm as he settled in, nuzzling her cheek until she pet him — and gave him a cookie.

When she got downstairs, Nolan was waiting — a dozen red roses and a velvet box in hand that contained a very sparkly bracelet lined with red stones. Of course, she gave him a kiss for it as Lockheed hopped down to steal some more cookies — though the kiss was interrupted by Sying, who was most definitely irritated that Nolan had gotten to her first.

"Yeah, okay, hands off the aunt for two seconds so I can hug her, huh?" Sying said, shaking his head at Nolan. He stepped forward and wrapped Elin up in a hug that spun her around, though when he set her back down, Lockheed growled at him.

"It's okay, Lockheed," Elin said, offering him her arm so he could go back to his chosen spot. "He's a nephew, and you know it."

Lockheed looked at her for a moment, then clearly to Sying and Nolan before he blew a lungful of smoke toward both boys.

Sying shook his head before he reached into his pocket and pulled out a couple candy bars. "Do you accept bribes?" he said with a smirk.

Lockheed stared back at him for a long moment but ultimately took the candy. "Kitty said he's been crabby lately. Sorry," Elin said.

"Hey, I get a little cranky when I'm sweets-deprived too," Sying said.

"He's had four cookies already this morning," Elin said.

"Only four?" Sying teased Lockheed. "No wonder you're in such a bad mood." But that only got a smoke ring blown his way from the purple dragon. Sying grinned and drew himself up before he hissed back.

"Don't start that now," Logan said as he and K came into the room. "He'll light you on fire. He's missed space travel. And toasting Brood."

Sying shook his head. "C'mon, Lockheed. You know I'm one of the good guys," he said in a cajoling tone.

The dragon let out a low, almost crackling sound and simply went back to snuggling into Elin.

Sying shook his head and then handed Elin the music he'd put together for her birthday. "Happy birthday."

She gave him a bright smile. "Thanks — are you going to do pancakes with me?"

"Always." With that, he held out his hands to indicate the door, and the group of them headed off to get the coffee.

When Krissy came down with her family, Lockheed picked up his head and let out an almost purring sound before he stretched out his wings and flew over to Kurt — and Krissy looked almost panicked.

Kurt, on the other hand, was positively beaming as he stroked Lockheed. "How are you, my beautiful friend?"

Lockheed pressed his forehead against Kurt's, almost bunting him with a little growl in response — at least until Kurt was sure to give him a little treat.

Krissy looked wide-eyed as she watched the whole interaction and leaned over to Elin — not even noticing a grinning James taking pictures of the whole thing. "Ellie…"

"What?" Elin said, looking perfectly straight-faced. "He's everything you'd ever want, isn't he? And purple too."

"I — I can't — I don't _want _to get locked in a tower!"

Elin gave her a look as she took the plate of crepes from her mother, and Lockheed's head picked up from Kurt to fly over and snuggle up with Elin — clearly and intently looking at her plate. "Yeah, I'm sure the psychic alien dragon wants to spend all his time guarding a tower." She rolled up one of the crepes and handed it to Lockheed before digging in herself.

"You just... " Krissy shook her head and went back to her food.

"Done," James said before he dropped into the seat across from Elin and Krissy — though he was working on a tablet halfway under the table. "What's the big plan today?" He was just finishing up an email with the subject line of 'Level 10'.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing notable. Just … updating Kitty on her dragon. Make sure she knows he's being spoiled enough," James said before he locked down the tablet, picked up his coffee, and turned to his sister. "Did you check your email yet this morning?"

"No, I did not. I was too busy with my little friend," Elin replied, though it was just that much more entertaining when Lockheed slipped into the chair next to Elin — specifically to send a small fireball into the air when Nolan tried to take the chair. "Oh. Seat's taken. Sorry," Elin said as she pushed the spare coffee that K had brought over in front of the little guy.

* * *

_Hey guys,_

_So I know you're already laughing at the email James sent of our purple princess tower dragon, but I have to tell you how much funnier it was in person._

_Lockheed hates Nolan!_

_Granted, Lockheed hates me too, but I'm an alien and he misses space fights, so that doesn't really count._

_The point is: you totally missed Nolan getting scared off of any time with Elin on her birthday by a grumpy dragon. It was hilarious._

_I already asked Aunt Kitty if she can lend us the best dragon ever should anyone try to get too serious…_

_Just wanted to let you know that we are all looking out for each other and drafted a whole dragon to make up for your absence._

_-Sying_

Sting smiled as he finished sending off the email. Even if Chance and Krissy we're together, he knew that Chance was protective of Elin. He got that. He knew how first crushes didn't ever _truly _fade.

And the guy had been through a lot lately and kept getting put down by Nolan in his absence. So he deserved to hear that someone was giving it back to the idiot Elin was dating.

Besides, Sying was sure the relationship with Nolan was living on borrowed time. No way could Elin keep dating anyone Lockheed didn't approve of. Lockheed might have been biased against aliens, but for everyone else? He was a pretty good judge of character.


	7. The Youngest Summers

**Chapter 7: "The Youngest Summers"**

K was carefully avoiding pretty much everyone when she didn't have a class to teach — or meals to go to. Even for meals, she was trying to be overly late or to grab something when everyone was gone. Team exercises were few and far between with so many runs that the senior teams were going on. But with the school filled nearly to capacity, hiding spots were coming at a premium, and no one wanted to deal with the chill spring air yet, so K found her way out to the old gardens where it was still quiet and solitary.

She wasn't out there long, though, before she caught a familiar scent with a saline overtone clinging to it. So, K followed the scent to find Chloe curled up nearly into a ball, her hands at her temples in fists, on the verge of a full-on breakdown. This didn't look like a hurt kid — not physically hurt. But the expression was very familiar. "Chloe?" K called out quietly as she slowly approached. "You alright, or do you want a better place to get away?"

"I'm okay," Chloe said through her teeth. "I'm okay; go away."

"Yeah, you look okay," K said, shaking her head as she simply crouched down next to her. "Where does it hurt?"

Chloe shook her head. "It'll go away. Leave me alone."

"No, honey, it won't," K said before she reached up and started applying pressure to the spots that Logan had pointed out for Cody.

After a little while, Chloe finally started to relax, but as soon as it had stopped hurting, she simply collapsed into K's arms and started positively sobbing.

"What's wrong now?" K asked, snuggling her in under her chin.

"You… you can't… tell… my … dad," Chloe managed to say, though she was crying pretty hard and hanging onto K's shirt, so it took her a while to get all the words out.

K shushed her and slipped to the ground to pull Chloe in tighter. "Why not?" she asked after Chloe started to settle down and wasn't hiccoughing quite so hard. "You know he'd be proud of you."

"No," Chloe said, shaking her head. "I _can't _get powers right now. I can't."

"But why?" K asked, honestly confused about it.

"Because that means I might… it means I …." Chloe looked up at K and looked totally terrified. "I don't want to get kidnapped, K. I don't want to go to Europe. I _can't _get powers right now."

"Oh," K said, nodding finally. "Well you can't stop them from happening, sweetheart. And if you want to avoid all of that crap, the best thing you can do is tell your dad about it — and tell him what you're worried about. I promise you: the last thing he wants to do is to send you off. It's tearing him up."

"I want to stay here," Chloe said, hiding her face in K's shoulder.

"Then stay here," K said.

"But everybody else went to Europe!"

"And there are reasons for that," K told her. "But if you think your dad won't take what you want into consideration, then you're just … wrong."

"But they went to Europe so they wouldn't get kidnapped, and I don't want to get kidnapped either," she muttered.

"Yes. The guy that's after them wants them for specific reasons. If he wanted you, we would have known by now," K reasoned. "He wants Charlie because he's a nutbag and thinks she could be useful. He wants Cody because he looks so much like your dad … I don't think you need to worry about it."

"Because I look like Mom?"

"And he's already got his heart set on Cody. Just like he's got his eye on James."

Chloe sniffed and nodded, still halfway hiding in K's shoulder.

"Why don't we take a little walk? We won't go far from the house, but I think we need to move a little bit. We can pick some flowers." She dipped her head down to look at Chloe. "If Storm were here, she'd have a fit. Come on. Doesn't that sound like fun? We can send her pictures of our picking spree. She was asking if her flowers were doing well."

Chloe couldn't help but smile and nod quietly. "I bet my cousin could spruce it up if we asked her."

"I know she could. But we should pick some flowers to brighten the house up. The flowers that Nolan gave Elin were okay, but it's springtime. Who wants to look at roses this early?"

"What about some daisies for Miss Daisy?"

"Too early for daisies, but it is the right time for daffodils and maybe some hyacinths." She gave Chloe a little squeeze. "Yellow and blue, right?"

Chloe smiled. "Your favorite colors," she teased.

"They sure are."

Chloe nodded and let K pull her to her feet. "I'm not a big fan of red," she admitted. "I like softer colors, like yellow."

"Well then you're in luck. Because I know just where a big patch of bright yellow daffodils are. And if that's too bright, there are some _soft _yellow jonquils nearby." She pulled Chloe along with her, holding her hand all the way to the overgrown spot behind the greenhouse. "I think everyone could use a little yellow, don't you? Brighten it up."

Chloe smiled a little wider at that, and it wasn't long before the two of them had picked enough daffodils and jonquils to fill their arms.

K pulled the doors open on the way in with the tips of her fingers, sure to let Chloe go through first. And seeing as she'd more or less forgotten about how bad the headache was, she was in higher spirits and smiling all the way up until they ran into her parents in the kitchen. "We could use like … about a dozen vases," K said. "Scott, why don't you help Chloe out; I've got mine covered just fine."

"Looks like you two have been busy," Scott said with a smile as he helped Chloe divide up her flowers.

"We were planning on sending the pictures to Storm; she was asking how her flowers were doing," K said though her smile didn't match the tone at all, far too subdued for the bright timbre.

Scott raised an eyebrow K's way over the top of Chloe's head. "How mad will the goddess be at the state of her garden — should I call Leslie Ann?" he asked.

"One way to find out," K said. "But she did ask about the flowers." She took a moment while Scott was looking her way to raise her hands to her temples and tipped her head Chloe's way.

Scott's eyebrows shot up, and he looked as if he understood perfectly before he put a hand on Chloe's shoulder. "Is that all you two have been up to?" he asked, peering closer at Chloe's face, where it was obvious to see she'd been crying.

"Yeah," Chloe said, frowning down at her hands for a moment before she caught K's gaze and let out a sigh. "Dad… I think I need some glasses."

Scott couldn't help but break into a smile as he sat down by Chloe. "When did this happen?" he asked.

"A … about a few days after everybody left," Chloe admitted, twisting her hands together before she glanced up at Scott. "I don't want to go to Europe," she added in a breath, her eyes wide.

Scott's eyes widened for a moment when he saw the honest concern in Chloe's expression before he pulled her into a hug. "You don't have to go anywhere, Chloe, alright?" he promised.

"But Sinister — he grabbed Cody _and _Charlie after _they _got their powers," Chloe said in a rush.

"I know," Scott said, pulling her tighter. "But, sweetheart, you don't have your powers just yet, and you might not start for a few more months anyway."

"And then I have to go to Europe," she muttered.

Scott's shoulders dropped, and he kissed her forehead. "We'll just keep an eye on you here. James is still here, and he was singled out too, remember? With your brothers and sister, we just had to take extra precautions. And we're working right now on making the school safer so they don't have to stay there."

"I don't… I don't want to have powers, Dad. Can't I be like Chance?"

"That's really not how it works, sweetheart," Scott told her.

"I know." She rubbed at her eyes with the back of one hand and then let out a breath. "I'll be quiet," she promised. "I'll stay inside, and I won't wear my glasses outside and — and I really want to stay right here with you and Mom."

Scott looked over the top of Chloe's head toward K for a second before he shook his head and hugged Chloe still tighter. "I swear, Chloe, I won't let him touch you, you hear me? It's just not something you're ever going to have to worry about."

"Dad…" Chloe picked her head up and kissed his cheek, biting back what she was going to say. "Alright. Thanks, Dad," she said.

* * *

"I like your new glasses."

Chloe looked up to see that Kaleb had come to sit down beside her on the couch, his head tipped to the side as he studied her with his ears perked up. With the glasses on, Kaleb looked more like his brother. If she really focused, she could almost imagine he was a deep purple, but she really could only see hues of red.

"Hi, Kaleb."

Kaleb grinned at her and grabbed her hand to kiss the back of it. "You look sad," he said.

She shook her head but couldn't help smiling at him. Kaleb had _always _been flirty, ever since he was old enough to start copying Kurt's showman's bows and hand kisses. But Chloe would be lying if she said it wasn't cute too.

"I'm still getting used to the glasses," she said.

"Mm, I think there's more to it than that," Kaleb said, his head tipped to the side and his tail swaying behind him. "You know, I can keep secrets better than anyone else in my family — bamfs included."

"Everyone can keep secrets better than the bamfs can."

"You'd be surprised."

Chloe shook her head at him but, again, couldn't help but smile. "You're a flirt."

"Yes, well, it's genetic," Kaleb said with a shrug. "And you still haven't told me what's wrong."

"It's nothing."

"It's not." Kaleb leaned back into the couch with a small smile. "Please?" he asked, this time with a much wider smile as he wiggled his eyebrows at her.

She laughed. "You're ridiculous."

"I'm adorable."

"You're something alright."

"Come on; I won't tell anyone," Kaleb said, turning to face her and to take both of her hands in his, looking so perfectly earnest that it was hard to say no to him.

Chloe rolled the idea around in her mouth for a while before she nodded. "It's just that in my family? Getting powers is sort of like, a rite of passage. Get your powers, get kidnapped…"

"You haven't been kidnapped," Kaleb pointed out.

"Yet."

"You _won't _get kidnapped," Kaleb said, still holding both of her hands and leaning forward to show how much he meant it. "No way."

"I'm not stupid," Chloe said. "The team couldn't keep that man away from my sister or my brothers. That's why my family's split up."

"And that's why Forge is working on the teleporting alert system," Kaleb said. "I've heard the pitch and the complaining from Krissy. A lot."

"Well, it's true," Chloe said. "I know _why _my dad had to do it, and it makes perfect sense. It's just…"

"Stupid?"

"No, I told you: it makes sense. It's just… I can see it tearing up my parents. Mom lives and breathes by the phone calls. I can't leave them too."

"Pretty sure they'd go _with _you if that was the case."

"What? My dad? Leave the school?" Chloe pulled a face.

"Hey, I know my parents would do _anything _for me," Kaleb pointed out. "Family comes first, right?"

"That's what my mom always says."

"Then maybe you should start believing her," Kaleb said. He brought her hands up to his lips and kissed them again. "And you know what? I think there's no point in getting all upset over something you can't control. If you have to go to Europe, at least you're with your family. And if the bad guys come, I'll just 'port you out of danger."

"You can't 'port yet, Kaleb," she pointed out.

"Maybe you could help me out," he said with an impish grin.

"What?"

Kaleb's grin widened before he leaned over and stole a kiss. He didn't teleport, but that didn't mean he stopped grinning either. "Worth a shot."

"Did you just _use _me to try to 'port?" she asked, her jaw dropped.

"_No_," he defended, drawing himself up. "I used the possibility of 'porting to get a kiss. Totally different."

Chloe shook her head at him. "You're just… something else, Kaleb."

"Yes, but I must not be too bad at kissing if you're grinning like that," he pointed out.

"Oh, shut up."

"Gladly," he said before he leaned over and stole another kiss, grinned, and scampered out of the room.


	8. Amy

**Chapter 8: "Amy"**

James was sitting on the floor of the music room with bits of wire and circuit boards all around him in a pattern that was obviously only understood by him. He had a screwdriver between his teeth as he readjusted a small section — again. He'd had to take an entire section off of the sensors - and disassemble it entirely — to get the finer tuning … well. Finer.

He was finally putting it back together — though he was double-checking all of the connections as he went, taking his time and making small adjustments throughout as he worked on it — when Charlie came in with a smile. "I'd say it looks impressive, but I don't really know what it's supposed to look like when it's done."

"It's not yet," James replied distractedly. "But it's not going to go on your head. That didn't really make a lot of sense. More like a very … elaborate … pendant. Or something. I don't know. But it's not a creepy-looking helmet."

"So it goes over my heart?"

"That's the idea," James said with a nod. "You don't get a headache as much as a crushing feeling when you're upset, right? Or am I off base?" He set the screwdriver down and looked up at her. "I can adjust."

"No, that's right," Charlie said with a nod.

"Alright. Then give me just a little bit, and whenever you want, I'll show you how I've got Amy … kinda working. I think."

Charlie paused, turned his way, and then let out a laugh. "Amy?"

"Well," James said, shrugging up his shoulders, "I couldn't keep calling it 'Emotional Cerebro' … I'd never get anything done. But … emotions are controlled mostly in the amygdala. So …" He gestured toward the tangle of wires and metal. "Amy."

"You," she said, shaking her head slowly, "have been spending _way _too much time with Tony Stark."

"I have. Send help."

She hopped up to sit on a box of tools and watch him with her head tipped to the side. "But, you know, I kind of like it. I couldn't come up with anything better than "Feelings Radar" or something, and that wasn't cutting it either."

"Too long. No fun."

Charlie laughed and shook her head. "When can we try it out? I'd like to meet Amy myself."

"Um … if you want to give me a little bit … maybe an hour or two? If you're in a rush."

"No rush, but I'm only really here for the weekend," she pointed out.

"I need to put this part back together, really," he admitted. "Then I'll have a better idea of what needs to be done."

Charlie nodded. "I'm just reading. Don't mind me," she said. "Chance is with Krissy, and Cody's with Alexa, so… here I am."

He nodded to himself and got back to work. "He didn't appreciate the dragon pictures, did he?"

Charlie laughed. "Uh, no."

"Didn't I mention that Lockheed was here for Elin?" James asked, smirking to himself as he picked up another tiny wire to solder into place.

Charlie laughed that much harder. "You're horrible to him. Please never stop."

"He needs someone to keep him honest," James replied. "And Lockheed thought it was hilarious."

"I'm sure he did," Charlie said, shaking her head at him as she curled up with her book.

It was another hour and a half before James spoke again. "Okay. I think I've got it as close as I can, all things considered." He looked up at Charlie. "You don't need to be the test dummy, though. I can bribe Remy into it or something if I need to."

"Remy doesn't do the same thing I do," she pointed out. "He just changes your emotions. He can't 'hear' it like I can."

"Maybe," James agreed with a nod. "But he can tell what you're feeling so he can shift it."

"Also true," Charlie admitted. "Still, I think … I mean, we're making this so _I _can use it, right?"

"Okay, I'm not fighting with you. I just … am giving you an out so you don't think you have to be the lab rat." But he was still setting it up so she could give it a shot.

"You're a sweetheart. But I want to handle it myself."

"I know — which is why I didn't stop working on it for you." He offered her the pendant on a chain. "Wireless. Cerebro is a little bulky for my tastes. And you know … Stark's whole focus is a lot about miniaturization and portability of tech."

Charlie beamed at him. "There's a joke here about how our dads would both die if they saw you giving me jewelry," she couldn't help but tease him.

"I don't know what you're talking about," James countered.

"I know — I'm _way _too old for you," Charlie agreed before she slipped the pendant around her neck.

"Oh yeah, that's it," James said in his most sarcastic tone.

"And so out of your league," she added.

He let out a laugh. "Right. Okay. Stick with that if it makes you feel better."

She grinned at him. "Denial's an ugly look on you, James."

"Nothing's ugly on me, Summers."

She laughed all over again and then twisted the pendant around in her hands a few times. "Alright. So. How do I work this thing?"

"Press down on the center of it to turn it on - then give it a minute before you fiddle with the little buttons on the side. I'll make it more decorative when it's finished. Right now, I'm just working on function." He gestured her way with one hand. "Top button … kind of think of that as the volume? And the other one is sensitivity."

She nodded. "Alright. Let's turn it down pretty low."

"Numbers on the side of it for now."

She nodded and turned the buttons down to their lowest settings, just to be on the safe side, and then took a deep breath and turned it on.

All at once, it was just like when she first had her powers, when the emotions in the mansion would absolutely overwhelm her. She could feel _everything_, all at once. It was too much to pick out specific people and their emotions, but there were all kinds of anxiety, worry, fear, loss — there was also joy and happiness and contentment, but even that was just so _much_.

It was more than she could handle, and she didn't know what to do as silent tears started slipping down her cheeks.

When she looked like she was more or less frozen, James frowned and darted forward to click it off. "We need a better signal for 'too much'."

Charlie nodded for a second before she simply put her head in her hands and started shaking, trying to get a handle on it but completely unable to stop.

"No, no," James said, trying to help as he wrapped his arms around her. "Do you need to get out of here? I'll carry you."

She shook her head and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I… I need to meditate," she said.

"Anything you need," James said. "Do you want me to stay or leave? I can meditate with you if it'll help."

Charlie took a long time to answer, still clearly overwhelmed. "Stay, please," she said at last. "I'll… I'll follow you."

He did his best to push a little bit of cheer forward before he sat down next to her and let out a long, slow breath and started to slip into it — not nearly as stormy as Logan was.

Slowly but surely, Charlie was able to follow him, holding onto his calm center like a lifeline, though when half an hour had passed and she still wasn't really back to herself, it was obvious she needed something more than just meditating.

"Get my brother," Charlie whispered quietly. "Please."

"On it," he promised before he jumped up and took off.

Charlie waited until James was gone before she let out a breath and rearranged herself, curling back up into a ball so that she could cry a bit more. Her mom had always said that sometimes you just _need to cry_, so that's what she was trying to do. But she did always feel bad when she cried in front of someone. They seemed to think that they had to _fix _it.

That was definitely the case when Chance got there with James — and immediately rushed over to where Charlie was curled up. She could feel the worry coming off him in waves before he took a deep breath, shook his head, and tried to switch gears.

"Gee, Charlie, if you wanted attention, you could do what normal people do and tapdance in your underwear on the front lawn."

It was absurd enough that her eyes went wide, and she had to look up at him to see that he was grinning broadly. "Oh my gosh," she muttered his way.

"Hey, I don't like the mental image any more than you do. I mean, that's _my sister _out there in her frilly things. I'm gonna have to take out _so _many wandering eyes."

"Chance-"

"No, no, I can do it," he promised. "It'll take me a while, and I might have to break a few hands…"

"You are enjoying that idea way too much," she said with a whisper of a smile. "Should I be worried?"

"Nah, nothing wrong with _thinking _about breaking hands."

She shook her head at him but practically curled into his side to hold onto him, and he hugged her a little tighter.

"You look horrible," he said.

"Shut up."

"Yeah, no, I think I'll keep going," he said. "At least 'til you stop looking like that."

Charlie let out a breath and almost rolled her eyes but ended up curling into her brother a little tighter and letting him say whatever he wanted so she could feed off his good mood a little longer.

Once it was clear that Charlie was at least in good hands, James backed out of the room, though he didn't get too far down the hall before he almost ran into Scott, who frowned when he saw the look on James' face.

"What happened?"

"Charlie had a little trouble."

Scott's frown deepened. "Is she alright?"

"She's with Chance right now," James replied. "So yeah."

"What happened?" Scott asked again.

James let out a sigh. "She wanted to try a device kind of like Cerebro — but to work with her power set. So I went over the blueprints for Cerebro and worked something up."

"She mentioned you were working on that," Scott said. "It's not a bad idea, really. Is that what this is about?"

"She had it on the lowest setting.I'm not sure what went wrong, and I'm not going to push her for details yet."

"You tested it?" Scott stared at him. "You tested it on Charlie?"

"I gave her the option not to — she wanted to."

"You tested it without a second opinion? Without someone else in the room with empathic or psychic abilities to be there to help work out the bugs?" Scott shook his head. "You're not infallible, James. Cerebro had _dozens _of iterations!"

"I know. I wasn't trying to go around anyone," James swore, looking torn up already about how the first run had gone.

Scott paused at the look on James' face and let out a breath before he rested a hand on James' shoulder. "I know," he said. "And I still think it's a good idea, but you need to be more _careful_."

"I'm not going to let her use it again any time soon," James replied.

"I want you to wait until you've got a second opinion on it before you test again," Scott said. "Hank or Rachel at least."

"Both."

"And have a telepath there," Scott said. "So it can't get too far wrong."

James nodded silently along, fully agreeable to all of it.

Scott let out a breath and then squeezed James' shoulder. "You're a genius, James, but I need you to think, alright? If you can keep your feet under you, you'll outpace all of us."

"I'm not arguing. Not even a little."

Scott nodded. "Are you alright?"

"Sure," James replied, nodding lightly.

Scott raised an eyebrow. "You know that line doesn't work on me, right? I'm an old pro at it."

"Okay," James said, still not arguing and still clearly upset, even if he was trying to hide it. "Still true."

"All the same," Scott said, then smirked, "let's put together a fishing trip soon, alright?"

"Sure," James agreed in that same half-distracted tone that said he didn't think it was anything close to an honest offer. He shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged his shoulders up to his ears before he simply turned and headed off — torn between shelving the idea of Amy entirely and working out his already-forming plan on how to deal with testing without Charlie getting in the middle and getting overwhelmed.


	9. Charlie

**Chapter 8: "Charlie"**

Chance had stayed with Charlie until she told him that she had a better handle on her emotions. He stayed even a little longer than that before he finally believed her, too, and she had finally managed to find herself a little peace and quiet.

There were plenty more students in the mansion because of the weapons programs problem, so there wasn't much that she could do in Europe _or _Westchester to find some quiet — but Westchester was far easier. There were trees, there was the barn, there was the music room…

She had finally settled on the music room after wandering around a bit. Her heart still _physically _hurt from everything that had happened, but she didn't want to hide from it either, just because she'd been hiding this whole time.

But when she got there, she was surprised to find that everything James had been working on — all of his organized chaos — all of it was gone.

She sat down where the tools used to be and put her head on her knees. This… this had been a horrible idea. What was she thinking? She couldn't even handle living in the institute when she got her powers. How was she supposed to handle an entire world full of emotion out there?

She should just find James and tell him that she wanted to call this off. It was too much. She should have _known _it was too much….

"There you are," a familiar voice said as Nate body slid into the music room in a wash of light. "It's almost as if you've been hiding."

Charlie looked up from her knees and wiped her eyes on her hands. "Hey, Nate," she said with a small smile. She might have been beyond upset, but a visit from her big brother was so rare that she couldn't _not _smile. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought I told you that: looking for you."

"What for?" she asked, her nose scrunched up.

"We haven't ever had any real time just the two of us, have we?"

Charlie shook her head lightly. "No," she admitted.

Nate offered her his hand. "Then we should fix that. I've got something I want to show you."

"Alright," she said, getting to her feet as she took the offered hand — and then went ahead and pulled him into a hug. His visits were so few and far between — and he always looked so surprised-and-then-pleased when his siblings hugged him — that she tried to hug him often. "Does Dad know? He'll freak out if I'm gone, you know."

"We'll be back before he knows you're gone. I'll put you back exactly when and where I found you."

"Oh, well, that's good, because he's sort of a mess right now," she said with a small smile.

"That is usually the case," Nate agreed. "Believe it or not."

"People keep saying that, but you know, as long as I've been able to 'hear' him, that's not always true — or even usually," she said. She smiled up at the much taller Summers. "But I think you and I had very different dads."

"Very," he agreed with a little smirk before he put an arm around her and they disappeared.

* * *

It had been a hard couple of weeks since Scott had left the Xavier Institute, and Charles was still spending more time than he'd care to admit simply watching his new group of X-Men working as a rag tag team. They didn't have the same kind of feeling that the original five had — but seeing as those five were scattering to the winds … it was all he had to push forward.

Charles had just left the team — after what was actually a very productive Danger Room session — and had gone to his office to get some time to consider everything that was going on. The world was in deep turmoil, and Erik was completely out of control. And Charles had only just let himself relax, admitting that there wasn't anything he could do to change Scott's mind without interfering. Though the thought did cross his mind. He wasn't sure if he was making the right moves, but he didn't have time to second guess himself. Not now. Likely not ever.

He frowned to himself, breaking out of his thoughts, and turned toward a new presence that absolutely hadn't been in the mansion moments ago. When he got to the hall just outside of his office, he had to stop and stare up at the young woman standing there looking just as surprised as he felt. As he always did when faced with someone he didn't know — uninvited in his house — he reached out to do a quick scan to see if she was friendly or not. The answer was interesting, to say the least: she seemed familiar with the school, yet still lost.

"Who are you?" Charles asked with a frown. "And how did you get in here?"

The girl gave him an embarrassed smile. "It's a long story," she said. "But my name's Charlie."

A smile played at his mouth for just an instant. "Is it now?"

She nodded, though he couldn't help but notice that she was openly staring at him. "Well, it's Charlotte, but nobody calls me that, not even my parents."

"I see." He frowned lightly, still considering the girl. "Where did you come from, Charlie?" He gestured to his office in a silent offer to get out of the halls.

Charlie followed his lead, tucking her curly hair behind her ears and still looking somewhere between awed and nervous. "Like I said: it's a long story," she said.

"I have time," Charles replied with a kind, understated smile.

She smiled right back at him as she settled down across from him. "Well, I guess the short version is that I have a time traveling older brother who decided this would be a great sibling bonding experience… I think."

"And where is he? If you don't mind my asking."

Charlie gestured openly. "I have no idea," she said. "Sorry."

He rested his chin in the palm of his hand as he watched her. "Then perhaps you can tell me what it is you're here to learn."

"I'm not sure about that either," she said. She took a deep breath. "Honestly… I hope this doesn't sound strange, but I'm just really excited to meet you." She smiled that same sort of embarrassed smile as before. "I've heard a _lot _about you."

"Then I'm afraid you're the one at the advantage," Charles said.

Charlie smiled lightly. "Well, you …" She bit her lip. "My dad named me after you," she explained. "And made sure I knew who I was named for — and all about your dream."

Charles let out a light laugh. "I'm afraid there isn't much to tell, young lady."

"That's not true," she said, shaking her head. "You're Charles Xavier! You taught my dad — you taught the _X-Men _everything about peaceful coexistence and how to _be _the X-Men."

Charles leaned forward, the frown back again. "Who is your father, Charlie?"

"Oh!" She blinked at him for a second. "Oh, right, I didn't... Right." She waved at him. "Charlie Summers. I should have led with that."

"Summers?" he said, his eyebrows raised. "Scott or Alex?"

"Scott," she said. "I mean, I don't have the glasses like my brother and sister, so I guess it's not quite the same giveaway."

He stared at her for a long moment, then almost tore himself from his thoughts — most of which revolved around what this could possibly mean for the original X-Men, if Charlie said she was time traveling. "I'm not sure what I should be asking of you, Charlie. Probably nothing at all. So what can I do for you?"

"I'm not sure either," she admitted, tucking her hair back again. She took a deep breath. "I think Nate was just trying to cheer me up," she explained. "My friend James and I… we were working on a project that went south." She smiled up at him. "But you?" She tapped the side of her head. "I haven't felt … that much ... " She let out a laugh. "No wonder Dad talks about you like he does. How do you have that much hope all the time?"

Charles smiled at her genuinely, the light dancing in his eyes as he did so. "You're empathic," he said, truly enjoying their talk when she was returning the favor, giving _him _hope in the future as well. At last, he drew in a breath. "I have to keep hoping. To keep them all going."

"You sound like my dad," she said with a smile.

But that just got a warmer smile out of Charles. He was sure he shouldn't ask about Scott, not when Charlie's very presence suggested that he would come back eventually, so instead, he said, "Tell me about your project that went south. Perhaps I can help."

She grinned and nodded, getting a serious boost out of being around him — which, she was sure, was Nate's whole point. "My brothers have been having problems lately — long story — but I wanted to be able to help find them when they get in trouble… and anybody else who gets in trouble," she explained. "And my powers don't work the same way yours do. I can still 'hear' people's emotions even if they're behind a telepathic shield."

"But you can't simply amplify your abilities," Charles said thoughtfully.

She nodded. "No, but James and I thought — well, we thought it might be worth trying to make something like Cerebro. But… with empathy."

"That sounds like a risky proposition," Charles replied. "And hard to nail down."

"James is a genius," Charlie said. "And he was able to isolate the way to hone in on my powers, but…" She let out a breath and looked down at her hands.. "It was too much. I couldn't take it."

"I'm so sorry to hear that. Cerebro wasn't easy to get right — and often times, we still struggle to keep it working as it should." He gave her another almost tight smile. "Don't give up. You and your friend will make this work."

Charlie looked surprised as she considered him. "I know you're not lying, but… it's hard to imagine Cerebro not working," she said with a small smile.

"It took years to work at all," Charles told her. "And to start with, there was no range on it. No controls. Years of tests and reworking went into it — and Henry is still working to perfect it on a near-constant basis." He let out a sigh. "I'm afraid I have been too hard on him with that endeavor as well. It's incredibly difficult to explain to someone where the trouble lies when they don't share that same ability with you." He turned her way, his eyes still twinkling. "I take it this James of yours isn't an empath, is he?"

Charlie shook her head. "No, he's got his dad's powers: healing, claws, you know."

Charles paused for just a moment and nodded slowly. "I see. Yes. That's nowhere near your talents."

But this time, it was Charlie's turn to lean forward with a twinkle in her eye. "It's alright to admit you're surprised, you know. I've heard the stories about Dad and Logan."

Charles laughed lightly. "Oh, there aren't many stories to tell right now. Scott left. The two of them didn't see eye-to-eye at all."

"He left?" Charlie looked surprised. "But he _loves _the X-Men."

Charles nodded. "I was just wondering where he was when you appeared in my hall. I'm afraid the personality clash was far more than I anticipated."

Charlie simply shook her head. "That's… I know I've heard stories about the epic clashes, but that's all they are to me. Stories." She waved a hand. "Logan went with Dad last time he talked to the UN."

Again Charles stared at her openly. He started to speak, then thought better of it, though the feeling of hope and positivity only seemed to grow from there.

Charlie couldn't stop smiling the more she felt it. "Oh, I wish you'd been around when I got my powers," she said. "All the fear and hurt gets overwhelming sometimes, but being around positivity… it's like… a reset." She smiled shyly. "Sorry. That sounds like I'm scamming you."

He frowned at the phrase but ignored it. "Then perhaps that's what your brother brought you here for."

"Maybe," she agreed. "It was a pretty bad low for me after we tried to use Amy — that's, uh, that's what we called the emotional Cerebro. Also a long story."

He nodded. "Maybe I can give you a bit of advice," Charles said slowly. "When you sit down to make adjustments with your friend, be sure to tell him as clearly as possible everything that happened. No matter how small it might seem. It took me a long time to learn that, and it only made it harder for Henry to help me. Particularly when it was overwhelming."

Charlie nodded slowly as she thought about it. "Alright," she said, then smiled up at him. "Thank you. Really."

"It was my absolute pleasure," Charles replied with that same warm smile before he reached over to pour himself a new cup of tea. "If you're not in a rush … you're welcome to join me."

"Please," she said, her smile widening. "I used to do this all the time with Erik, and it's been too long."

Charles set the teapot down heavily. "Erik."

"Oh." She glanced up at him, looking embarrassed when she could feel the rush of conflicting emotions from the man in front of her. "Oh, is he still Magneto right now?"

"Does he ever stop?" Charles replied, one eyebrow raised.

"Well…" Charlie shifted a bit.

Charles held up his hand to stop her. "I'm sure Scott would never allow him near his children if he was still being…" He stopped and shook his head. "Difficult."

"He talked about you all the time," Charlie told him. "And your dream. And how important it was that I lived up to your name."

He let out a sigh. "Which is in part why you're trying to make your own working version of Cerebro."

"It's … more complicated than that. My brother almost died…"

"It always is more complicated than we'd like it to be."

"I'm not trying to copy you," Charlie swore.

"Of course not."

Charlie bit her lip, knowing Charles wasn't lying but still too conflicted about what had gone wrong to be sure of her _own _intentions.

"How many prototypes have you gone through?" Charles asked before he pushed the teacup closer to her. "Before you got it to work at all."

"I … don't know. This was the first one James let me try," Charlie admitted.

He stared at her for a moment, surprised to hear how successful her friend had been — and how she didn't even realize how far James must have come before he approached her. "Then you can't possibly be too far from finding a solution. Once you find something that functions, it should only be a matter of making it work for you — not against you."

"And not getting overwhelmed," she said, nodding along.

"Oh, you'll get overwhelmed," Charles warned. "The difference is in how you choose to address it. Recover and then go back at it again until you get it right. Don't ever give up."

She nodded and couldn't help but smile through his every word. "Would… would it be alright if I hugged you?" she asked.

He looked almost taken aback by the request. "If that's what you'd like."

Charlie broke into a beaming smile and rushed around the table to all but throw herself into a hug. "I'm so glad I got to meet you."

"And I you," he said with a little chuckle.

When she'd gotten the hug out of her system, Charlie stepped back a bit and couldn't stop grinning — though she looked downright disappointed when an incredibly tall and broad man suddenly appeared in the room. "Oh. Do we have to go?" she asked.

"Yes, we have to go," Nate replied with a crooked sort of smirk.

Charlie sighed and turned back to Charles. "Thanks again," she said, smiling widely before she took Nate's hand, and the two of them were gone in an instant.

For a moment, Charles stared at where the two Summers siblings had disappeared with a bemused smile on his face that he couldn't quite shake. If what she said was true, if any of it was something to go by, then Charles knew he was on the right track and that _eventually_, Scott would come home and that he and Logan would learn to work together. The future _had _to be brighter … especially with such a bright light in it.

Of course, a crashing down the hall brought Charles back into the present, and he found himself turning slowly back to his door to see who and what had broken this time.

* * *

"You know what you have to do, right?" Nate said when Charlie realized they were back in the music room — and that the clock had barely moved around a full minute. "I'd have taken your accomplice with you, but I couldn't find him."

Charlie couldn't stop grinning up at Nate as she nodded. "For future reference? They're _really _easy for me to find."

"I'll keep that in mind," Nate replied with a smirk.

She grinned even wider and threw her arms around him to hug him. "That was… thank you."

"You're welcome," he told her, squeezing her into a tight hug. "This thing — you're going to need it."

"I'll keep that in mind," she said, looking up at him with almost the exact same smirk he'd just given her.

He chuckled before he gave her one last squeeze and disappeared again, and Charlie left the music room in a _far _better mood than she had been — not just before testing Amy but the best mood she'd been in… in months, really.

As she made her way through the kitchen, Logan stopped cold at the familiar scent that was clinging to her and tipped his head sideways, clearly abandoning what he was there for in favor of letting out a shrill whistle to get Charlie's attention. "What have you been up to, troublemaker?" Logan asked, frowning hard at her.

Charlie spun around to face him and positively _beamed _at him. "Sibling date with Nate," she said.

"That ain't all you did," Logan replied.

She grinned even wider and leaned forward with a sparkle in her eyes. "He's just like Dad said," she whispered.

Logan couldn't help but crack a little smile. "What did you expect?"

"Well… that, really. But I didn't realize he was _that… _positive and hopeful and… I could have sat with him for hours and never gotten tired of listening to the song he plays in his emotions. Like a piano piece, but, like, one of those lighthearted tunes in the upper keys, you know?"

"I think so, yeah," Logan agreed, shaking his head at her. "What was the occasion?"

"James and I have been working on that emotional Cerebro," she said. "It works; we just need to fine tune it so it doesn't overwhelm me." She looked sheepish. "I think Nate knew I was thinking of giving up on it, but actually, Charles Xavier had some excellent advice on just… how to _explain _what's wrong to someone who can't feel it."

"And your dad okayed this?" Logan asked.

"I told him about the idea, yeah," Charlie said with a little nod. "I thought maybe I could help, you know, if Sinister comes back or if somebody gets trafficked again or… anything, really. Since telepathic shields don't work on me." She held out her hands. "I'm like Gerry that way. I don't like to fight, but I _will _help."

"I meant: did he know you were trying it out?" Logan corrected.

"Oh. Well, no," Charlie admitted. "We _just _finished it."

"Did it work?"

She nodded. "It did… sort of." She let out a breath. "The focus was too wide. But actually, Professor X had some _really _good advice on how to move forward."

"I'm sure he did," Logan said, still frowning her way.

Charlie reached over and rested a hand on Logan's shoulder. "Don't worry," she said. "Really, it's fine."

"Says the girl that did her first time jump. You don't know that."

"I know he said he had the _same _problems when Cerebro first started," she said with her arms crossed. "And now it's working great — so we can do the same thing here!" She shook her head. "And Nate said we'd need it."

"You need somethin', alright," Logan muttered as he shook his head, half growling to himself.

Charlie shook her head and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "Love you too," she said before she slipped off, not about to let Logan get her mood down when she was enjoying herself _so much_.

She was just in time to catch Scott and Chloe coming back in from trying on her new visor that Hank had made — different from the glasses, since the visors would help with control while she and Cody were still learning the finer points of their powers.

Scott looked surprised to see the _beaming _smile on Charlie's face, since he had heard from James that she'd had a hard time after trying their new device. "Hey, Charlie," he said, one eyebrow quirked up.

"Hi, Dad!" she said, still beaming at him before she rushed over to hug him around the middle.

"So… is this like… a second wind after the emotional overload?" Chloe asked around Scott's shoulder.

"Chloe," Scott said, looking her way and shaking his head lightly. "You're in a great mood, Charlie. What happened?"

"Nate and I got to hang out a bit," Charlie said, her smile widening. "I think he knew I was having a hard time and thinking about giving up, so…" She leaned forward, her eyes sparkling. "So he took me on a time jump."

"He… what?"

Charlie grinned and nodded. "And, Dad… I got to meet Charles Xavier!"

Scott didn't even know how to react to that and simply stared at her. "What?"

"He was _just _like you said," she said, her eyes wide. "He was so nice — and full of so much hope that I could have just sat there with him _forever_."

Scott couldn't help but shake his head at her in disbelief. "When… how was he?" he finally asked, sitting down with Charlie with a perfectly open expression.

"He missed you, I think," she said. "You weren't around."

Scott frowned at that.

"But he was so _glad _to hear when I talked about you and — and how the X-Men are still following his dream — and — all of it!" Charlie beamed up at him. "I think he'd be proud if he were here, because he felt proud even when I talked to him just for a little while." She smiled. "I think we both needed the boost."

"Then… I'm glad Nate took you," Scott said at last, still staring at her.

Charlie smiled at him and gave him a hug. "I know you miss him," she said when she hugged him. "But you should know: he sounded a lot like you."

"Well, he did teach me a lot," Scott pointed out.

Charlie grinned up at him. "It was amazing, Dad. I didn't really get to talk to anyone else who was there, but I could sort of hear them, and I could tell they were younger, too, because the songs were less… layered and complex." She shook her head. "I could have stayed there forever."

"I'm glad you didn't," he said with a smirk. "Then where would your brothers be without you?"

"Good point," Charlie said, grinning wider before she leaned over into a solid hug.

* * *

Since the disastrous maiden run with Amy and Charlie, James had been keeping to himself. He seemed to always have a built in excuse, too: either he was working with Tony or he was studying for the next degree. No one would argue with him or push him for other things if he was doing that kind of thing. And all it ever took was for one person to hear it, and word was out that he was busy with _very important things_. Which was perfect when he was actually doing those things.

But now? Now, he was in his lab at Tony Stark's place more or less staring at his hands. He'd lost all the drive to even try to work on anything after seeing and _scenting _how incredibly upset Charlie had been. He knew how badly he'd screwed up, and he knew that every step of it was on him. It was a whole lot of stress for one kid — genius or not.

It had shaken him up, especially since it had _hurt _Charlie. There was no way to deny it. James was shaken. And for the first day or so, it had only been in regards to _Amy_. But it wasn't long before his nerves bled into all the other projects he was involved in, too.

James was completely disheartened by the time Tony came in to check on him. He sat down next to James and blew out a breath as he dropped one hand on the boy's shoulder. "Alright. What gives? Something happened and you quit being your usual charming self. So … who did it?"

"No one," James said, shaking his head. "I'm just not sure what I should be doing, that's all."

Tony looked around the lab, clearly misinterpreting what James was saying — especially since he didn't know how much the kid was doing on his _own _at home. "Well … there's the debugging you were playing with or the re-miniaturization project." He blew out a breath. "And that's just what you've got laying around here. Come on, kid, I know you have plenty to do."

"No, that's … nevermind." James turned away from him and started halfheartedly fiddling with an old repulsor that he was miniaturizing. But it was blatantly obvious he wasn't interested in it in the least.

Tony watched him for a few minutes, even going so far as to lean on the bench next to him, propping his head up with one hand as he slid different tools toward James as he needed them … but when that didn't even get the requisite tease, he reached over and covered the tools to stop James from working. "You gonna tell me what happened?"

James knew he had to come clean — especially with how obviously invested Tony was already. "I was working on something for Charlie, and it didn't work right. At all."

"Happens to the best of us."

"Yeah, but this isn't the kind of thing that should — you know what, it doesn't matter."

Tony frowned. "Sure it does. Tell me about your secret project, and I'll tell you what I think."

James looked up at Tony for a long moment, and with a little needling, he started to talk. Tony listened intently, asking questions as they sprang to mind, honestly fascinated with how far the boy had already come on his own — even if he didn't _realize _it. The potential applications were astounding the more it rolled around in his head, and by the time James was done explaining how the first run had gone south, Tony was doing his level best to keep from grinning.

"Alright, so. You made a few mistakes," Tony said slowly, watching James' reaction all the while. "But you made some major breakthroughs, too. And I mean _major_. At any rate, that's not the kind of leap you make and drop. Especially when _it worked. _First time out and you got it to work. Sure, might have been too powerful — but it _did _work."

"That does me no good," James said flatly.

"Of course it does. You just can't keep going at it the way you have been. Testing … that could take years to get right."

"No way am I letting Charlie even think of putting up with anything like that for _years_."

"Then figure out another way to test it. Someone else that can help you that isn't so close to the family," Tony said. "Install a timer on a kill switch — keep it short. Do … _something_. But you can't make a leap like this and then _abandon it_."

James looked overly thoughtful as he stared at his hands, and Tony kept watching him through the silence. He narrowed his eyes when he realized that James was still on the fence. So, he had to point out something _else _that was incredibly important. "One more thing," Tony said, drawing James' attention. "Anything you have on this — _anything_, even mention of it — it needs to be offline, and away from open servers. Even with your coding attached to it, this isn't the kind of breakthrough that should be accessible. Anywhere."

"Yeah, I actually did think about that," James said. "I haven't told anyone here but you — now."

Tony smiled to himself and gave James' shoulder a squeeze. "Don't give up on anything that makes you work this hard," Tony said, then quickly shifted his tone. "And put some music on, for God's sakes. This place is enough to drag anyone down for as quiet as you keep it."

James smirked at that. "It helps me focus."

"You're killin' me, kid. Come on."

James let his smirk stretch out. "Thanks, Tony."

But, as usual, Tony wasn't taking it very gracefully, and instead of replying, he simply waved over his shoulder on his way out, leaving James with a little something to chew on anyhow.

* * *

Charlie was still riding high from everything that had happened when she finally did manage to catch up to James and broke into a huge grin as she rushed over to him. "There you are!"

"Not like I was taking out my 'A' game for a simple hide and seek I didn't know we were playing," James said with a frown as he set his tools down.

"Even if you had, you're easy to hear," she teased.

"Oh? Well … what did you hear this time? Lies? Dirty, vicious lies?"

"Determination," she said. "And I think that's great! I want to keep working on Amy with you."

"Oh, well, that's not gonna happen for a while," James told her frankly. "I have a lot to reroute."

"Well, before you get too far, I wanted to talk to you about it," Charlie said. "It _was _working. You had it right. But the focus was too wide. It was too much at once." She held her hands out. "It's like… playing every song in a jukebox instead of looking through a catalog. It's too much at once to pick out one song. But maybe we could make it more… specific."

"It was omnidirectional over unidirectional," he said, crossing his arms. "Okay. I think I can adjust that. Using Cerebro as a base might not have been the best idea." He bit his cheek and narrowed his eyes as he thought it over. "Probably oughta just tear it down to the frame."

"It's working _well_," she promised. "It really is."

"Except the entire basis is off," he said. "Wrong sensors and refractor."

"It's fine," she promised. "Really! Cerebro had lots of issues when it started out. Charles Xavier told me it was hard to get it settled, and they went through so many prototypes and — and he was _so _impressed when I told him about how this was just the first run…"

He stared at her for a moment and, without breaking eye contact, reached for a hammer. "If you're talking to ghosts, then this thing needs to be melted down."

"I went back in _time_," Charlie said.

"Yeah, okay," James said. "Sounds like a problem."

"Nate took me," Charlie said. "He said this thing we're working on — he said we were going to need it."

"Still kinda want to hit it with a hammer."

Charlie shook her head. "No! It's great, really. You just need to focus more."

He let out a sigh and put the hammer back where it had been. "Hand me that notebook — and tell me as much detail as you can."

Charlie grinned at him and hopped up on the tool box as she handed it over, still grinning as she went over everything that she'd talked to Charles about.


	10. The Trouble with Twins

**Chapter 10: "The Trouble with Twins"**

Scott had just finished helping Chloe through a pretty bad headache — grateful that Logan had taught him the pressure points that he hadn't had as a kid so that at least Chloe and Cody weren't having as hard of a time — when he'd gotten the call from Jubilee to let him know she and her family were on their way out. Apparently, the twins had gotten their powers — and since they didn't have something as obvious as plasmoids, they'd been keeping quiet about it. Which Jubilee was not thrilled about.

When they landed, both of the twins looked properly abashed, and Jubilee was glaring at both of them — though Ael looked pretty darn entertained.

"Go ahead," Jubilee said, waving her hands at the girls. "Tell Scott how long you've been _telepaths_ without _telling anybody_."

"What?" Scott looked between the two girls with his eyebrows high on his head.

"We wanted to see how long it would take before anybody noticed," Melody explained.

"And nobody noticed," Celeste added. "At all."

"How long?" Scott asked, looking between the three Lee women. It was clear Jubilee was annoyed — so it had to have been a while.

"Long enough," Jubilee said. She waved both hands at the girls. "And seeing as you know how to deal with … _this ... _knock yourself out, because I want to strangle them."

"It wasn't _that _long," Celeste said.

"We thought it was just between us at first," Melody agreed. "When we were, like, eight?"

"But it was _just _between us," Celeste said. "So we thought it was a twin thing."

"EIGHT. Eight, Scott — _since they were eight flamin' years old!_" Jubilee let out an angry sort of growl before she turned to them. "And they've been _blocking _their nonsense from me!"

Celeste and Melody glanced at each other and looked sheepish. "We just wanted to see how long it took."

"What happened?" Scott asked.

"It was _her_ fault," Celeste and Melody said at the exact same time, pointing at each other.

"We were just joking around with Miss Kamala," Celeste said.

"And _she _mentioned something about the baby," Melody said, pointing at her sister.

"Because _she _was projecting Miss Kamala's good news to me while I did the block," Celeste shot back.

"And we weren't supposed to know yet," Melody explained.

"But Melody was _too excited _when she heard it."

Scott held up both hands to stop the flood of explanations and accusations. "Wait a minute. Back up. What are you talking about?"

"Oh. Kamala and Miles are having a baby," Melody said, breaking into a _huge _smile. "Didn't you catch that?"

"How long have you been able to read other people's thoughts, then?" Scott asked, shaking his head at the pair of them and trying to process the rapid-fire information.

The girl glanced at each other. "Ten months," Melody said.

"We were _going _to tell Mom if we made it to a year," Celeste added.

"And I'd have murdered you if you made it to a year," Jubilee grumbled.

The girls simply grinned at Jubilee and shrugged in unison. "We were kind of having too much fun," Melody said, trying and failing to look apologetic.

"Celeste, Melody, you should have told your parents when it started — even if it was just between the two of you," Scott said, shaking his head at the white-haired girls. "How can you live in one of these schools and not know that's the whole point of what we do?"

"They think it's funny," Jubilee said, crossing her arms and cocking her hip. "I think they need … oh… two weeks running with Wolvie."

Scott slowly nodded. "Why don't you talk to him and let him decide whether two weeks is the best option."

"Maybe three — you're so totally right," Jubilee said. "Oooh. Or one for every month that they _hid this._"

"It's not like we're the only ones," Celeste pointed out. "I _know _Aunt Elin and Uncle James did."

"But Wolvie and K knew," Jubilee said, glaring her way. "Even if they didn't tell _you_, their parents knew."

"And their parents were able to help them get used to their powers. The _right _way," Scott agreed. He shook his head. "Go talk to Logan."

The girls glanced at each other and were clearly — now that Scott knew to look for it — having a conversation unheard between them before they nodded and followed Jubilee out to go talk to Logan.

Noh and Ael stayed behind, though, and Noh tipped his head Scott's way. "I wanted to speak to you about something else as well," he said.

Scott turned his attention from the door and crossed his arms. "Alright. What's up?"

Noh shrugged openly. "We've been in California for some time now," he said simply. "And with the twins getting their powers, most of our family will be here, in Westchester."

Scott nodded, already following what Noh was saying. "You know there's always room for you both if you want to come back — but have you talked about it with Jubes?"

"We had discussed it before this… incident with the girls," Noh said with the slightest of smirks. "After all, we've had several years' worth of sun and sand, but it seems we're always coming back here anyway for some reason or another."

"Yeah," Scott said, nodding. "And honestly, with everything going on with the team right now, we could use the extra hands."

"That was also something we discussed," Noh agreed. "My Jubilee recently learned to use Cerebro, after all — and it seems our children have just as much of a penchant for danger as we do. It would be simpler if we were _here _when that pattern inevitably repeats itself."

"You're worried about the kids," Scott said.

"Yes, that is a more succinct way of putting it," Noh said with a smile. He paused, and the smile widened. "That — and I think my classes on alien civilizations are best put to use here."

"Yeah, not much use for that in a general studies high school, huh?"

"I was wary of teaching science," Noh admitted. "This world—"

"—isn't ready, yeah, I know," Scott said, unable to stop his smirk at the familiar refrain.

Noh nodded. "And quite frankly, there's not much else for me to do. The Kree aren't interested in reaching out to your governments when they are enslaving mutant populations, so my only ambassadorial duties are to the Avengers and X-Men anyway — and they are here."

Scott nodded. "Like I said: you know you're welcome here."

Noh smiled. "We'll finish the semester in LA, of course, but as there's only a little over a month remaining, I wanted to speak to you and plan ahead."

"Which I appreciate," Scott said with a smirk before he gestured for Noh and Ael to follow him down the hall so they could get settled in while the girls talked to Logan.

* * *

Logan was out in the garage, working on the bike and getting it ready for the summer: fresh spark plugs, new gas … and a long-needed tuneup that he'd been neglecting for almost a year. He'd just been letting the engine run for a few minutes, one hand on the throttle as he was staring at the seat and listening carefully before he twisted his wrist and opened it up. He tipped his head a little more as he heard the little catch in the cycle and the tiny backfire in the middle of the roar. With a frown, he turned it off and glared at the chrome gearbox. If he was lucky, new fluids and a hard ride would clear it out. If not … it was time for a full rebuild or just to pick up a new bike. And he really didn't want to get a new one and have to baby it. Not when this one was more or less right how he liked it. He was still weighing it out when Jubilee and the girls stepped closer —with their hands over their ears still.

"What do you want?" Logan grumbled.

Jubilee gestured at her twins with one hand, the other one on her hip. "These two are _psychic_, Logan. Did you know that? Because I sure didn't, and I'm their _mother_."

"I did _not _know that," he said, glaring between the twins. "So, what did they do to get your dander up?"

Jubilee gestured at Logan and tipped her chin down, eyebrows raised at the twins. "Tell him how long you've been hiding it, girls."

"Ten months," Melody admitted.

Logan just raised an eyebrow at both of them as he kept silent to hear which way this was rolling.

"They've been able to talk to _each other _telepathically since two years ago," Jubilee added, glaring at the girls. "So, _do something _with them. Two weeks running or — whatever!"

Logan frowned deeper and focused on the twins. "You do it purposely or …"

Celeste bit her lip. "We wanted to see who figured it out first."

"And how long it took," Melody added.

Logan looked irritated. "So just for your own entertainment."

"It was just—" Melody started to say.

"You know it's not a game, right?" Logan said.

"Of course!" Celeste said quickly.

"Sure as hell doesn't look like it."

"We'd _never _poke in other people's heads or anything…"

"Really? So for the last ten months, you knew you could do it but just … had more control than every other telepath in the history of ever? I don't think so."

Melody shook her head. "We… we could hear… we didn't _jump in _anybody's head!" she said.

"Just listened to the background noise," Celeste agreed.

"You don't have to jump in to invade their privacy," Logan pointed out. "Which it sounds like you were doing the whole time."

"It was an accident with Kamala," Melody said, looking down at her feet.

"Not for ten months it wasn't an accident. With _everyone_," Logan said. It was painfully clear that he wasn't amused or entertained in the least by them. "You were enjoying peekin' in on everyone. Knowin' their secrets. Eavesdroppin'."

The girls were clearly just starting to realize how much trouble they were in as they glanced at each other. _I thought Grampa Wolvie would be … cooler than this, _Melody projected to her sister.

_I can't hear his thoughts, can you?_

_Not a peep._

Mid conversation, Logan chucked a dirty rag at them. "Hey. None of that crap around me or you'll regret it."

"But we've been doing it since we were eight," Melody argued.

"More proof you have zero control of yourselves," Logan said. "And a nasty habit of thinkin' it's okay."

The twins shared another look between them. "We weren't trying to hurt anybody," Celeste said.

"Then why hide it?" Logan challenged. "And don't tell me it's some dumb game, because if you ask me — and even if you don't — it sure as hell feels like you knew what you were doing wasn't right."

"We just…"

"We like having our own thing," Celeste finished for her sister.

"Especially when it means you have the edge and knowing what everyone wants," Logan added. "How's that working out for you right now?"

"Not too well," Melody admitted.

"What do you think, Jubes?" Logan asked, though he hadn't dropped his gaze from the twins or even blinked in what seemed like an unnaturally long time. "What do you think is fair?"

"Well, I thought maybe a week for every month they held out on me…" Jubilee said.

"Double it," Logan said. "Twice a day with inhibitor collars for the time you're with me."

"What?" Melody's eyes went wide.

"You been in your sister's head so long your ears don't work?" Logan asked.

"But ... inhibitor collars?" Celeste stared at him.

"I know the two of you can run nearly as fast as your brother. He hated running with me without that. And now, so will you."

The girls just stared at him, completely floored.

"Effective immediately," Logan continued. "I'll have Kurt send the little demons so you can get started right away — before and after your classes."

The girls still looked totally floored but finally got it together enough to nod in unison. "Okay."

Logan turned and looked at the clock on the wall. "You got a couple hours before I come lookin' for you. You don't want me to have to do that."

"Where ... where are we supposed to meet you?" Celeste asked.

"Kitchen's fine," Logan told her before he simply turned back to the bike and pulled off the last cover to make the final adjustments.

When the girls hurried off to go get their stuff settled in their room before they had to meet up with Logan, Jubilee jumped up onto the bench against the wall that held the vice. "Thanks, Wolvie."

"Sounds like Kamala needs psychic defense lessons," Logan replied.

"She was just excited," Jubilee admitted. "Even _I _could hear her projecting her baby news all over the place, and you know I don't pry."

He turned and gave her a dry look. "Jubilation. Have they started telling people?"

"No," Jubilee swore quickly. "They're not _that _bad. They're just…" She rolled her eyes up to the ceiling and let out a frustrated sound.

"I'll put in a special note," Logan promised. "Every indiscretion will earn 'em another day."

She hopped down and skipped over to kiss his cheek. "Oh, and also?" she said with a small smile. "Me and Noh are moving back to Westchester."

"Good," he said with a nod. "Then you can listen to the bellyachin' yourself."

Jubilee laughed. "Not until the end of the semester," she said.

"They stayin' now or finishin' out there?" he asked.

"Oh no. They're staying here so I don't personally wring their necks for being _punks_."

"They'll be beggin' your forgiveness by the end of the week."

Jubilee nodded and smiled before she threw her arms around his neck in a hug. "You're the best."

"You knew that a long time ago," he chuckled before he kissed her cheek, though when she kept it up, he went ahead and returned the hug — greasy hands and all — just to get her to yell.

* * *

The next morning at breakfast, both of the Lee twins were absolutely _wiped_ from the evening run Logan had made them do their first night back in Westchester. Logan had made them run as far as they could — and back — before they were practically ready to _drop_. And even if both of them could heal, it wasn't a quick thing like the Howletts did. So the two of them were positively miserable, both of them with their heads on their arms and clearly worn down.

Logan and K were sitting at the table, curled into each other as usual, drinking coffee as always and looking perfectly content where they were. Oblivious to the twins misery.

"So I think the lesson here is: when I get my 'porting, I'll tell Logan and K first," Kaleb teased as he sat down by the girls.

"No," Sadie said. "You'll tell your parents. And _then _Mom and Dad."

"Ah, but your family has the magic touch," Kaleb said, grinning over at her cheekily. "So I'm sure they'll know first."

"This is entirely true," Sadie shot back with a grin. "But that just means you don't have to _tell _us."

"Also true," Kaleb said, leaning over to kiss Sadie on the cheek and then looking around for any smoke. "Well darn. Maybe next time."

"Maybe you need to _get _kissed, not do the kissing," Sadie said.

"It's possible," Kaleb agreed, though he just grinned wider and kissed the back of her hand anyway. "But I was always told boys should do the chasing."

"This is true too," she said. "So I guess it might be a while." She grinned widely at him. "Maybe."

He just grinned her way though when Kurt and Kate sat down across from the two of them, he backed off a bit at the look on Kurt's face, a sort of raised eyebrow almost-smirk.

"Someone murdered the twins," Kate said, shaking her head at the two exhausted girls across the table.

Logan chuckled low and shook his head, halfway through the one mug he was having before the run for the morning. He wasn't going to confirm what Kate was saying — which only compounded the twins' misery.

_He's trying to kill us, _Melody projected to Kaleb.

_Wouldn't you know if he was? _he pointed out.

_We can't read him, _Celeste jumped in to say.

Kaleb looked between the two girls, his eyebrows raised at them. _This is weird._

_You act like you've never talked to any telepaths, _Melody teased.

_The double-team, though, _Kaleb said. _I mean, I thought the whole point was privacy?_

_We do everything together, _Melody said.

_Yeah, I noticed. _Kaleb tipped his head to the side. _But he's not trying to kill you, you know._

_What would you know about_—

Midway through Celeste's thought, Logan let out a low, warning growl that echoed the room, though he didn't look up from the paper, seeing as he knew his point was made.

The girls straightened up, glaring a bit his way before they settled into even more of a sulk in tandem. On seeing the girls' reaction, K couldn't help but smile to herself before she turned to give Logan a kiss without a word spoken — highly amused by the whole thing.

"Can't we have a private conversation?" Melody grumbled.

"Nope," Logan said. "You wanna converse, do it when you're not in each other's heads. I'm _told _communication is a big thing."

Kate snorted out loud and grinned Logan's way. "Gee, where'd you hear that?"

He shrugged and let out a little grunt. "Little bird told me once. Maybe twice."

Kate laughed again and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "Aww. You do listen. And I love you for it."

"Doesn't mean he'll put it into practice …" Kurt teased.

"Shh. I'll take the small victories," Kate said, leaning over to kiss Kurt with a smile.

Kaleb grinned at his parents before he leaned over to Melody. "But hey. What I said before? I'm right." _You'd _know _if he was trying to kill you. Because you'd be dead._

_You are not helping anything, _Melody said, obviously grumbling even in her telepathic voice.

"If you girls are done trying to bend my rules … " Logan said as he set his now empty mug down. "It's time to get moving."

The girls both looked tired already as they climbed to their feet. "Alright," Melody said with a sigh.

"I'll write you a beautiful eulogy!" Kaleb promised.

"Don't forget your inhibitors," K sang out, pulling her feet up onto her chair.

The twins glared her way for a moment but were sure to grab the pair of collars from the counter on their way out, since it was increasingly clear that any attempt to get out of it was only going to get them in even deeper trouble.

When they came back over an hour later, panting, dragging their feet and in desperate need of water, Logan looked like he was just ready to get rolling. And he was in a good mood, too. "You two act like you can't take it," he said as he poured himself more coffee and leaned against the counter.

"You're… you're crazy," Melody panted.

"You're gonna need to be more specific on the reasonin', darlin'."

"You're trying to kill us," Celeste said.

He laughed outright. "No. I'm not."

"Slowly. Killing us slowly."

"Do you _want _me to try to kill you?" Logan asked. "Cause I promise: there's a big difference."

"_No_," Melody said before Celeste could say anything.

He smirked and raised the mug, draining almost half of it in one pull. "You think I'm bein' too hard on you?"

"We think murder is too much for just… anything, really," Celeste said.

"You're young. You'll adjust your expectations as it goes."

"We're not even going to get to enjoy the rest of the semester here!" Melody pointed out.

"And we _just _started!"

"And here I thought you two were here to learn somethin'."

Melody and Celeste glanced at each other. "Can't we do both?" Melody asked.

"What do you want to do? Try someone else's runnin' program?" Logan asked with one eyebrow raised.

"Can we?" Celeste asked.

"Only other one with a similar schedule is K," Logan told them. "If you're good, I might let you switch off a couple days a week."

Melody and Celeste glanced at each other and then nodded. "Okay," they said before Melody added, "Can we take these off now?" and pointed to the collars they were wearing.

Logan smirked. "Sure. Just keep the internal convo to the minimum."

"Why can't we at least talk to each other?"

"You know how — you've proven that. You need to communicate like everyone else, too. It's about control an' not usin' it like a crutch. If it's easy, it's probably not the right path."

The girls didn't look happy about that answer at all as they slipped off the inhibitor collars. "It's just _talking_," Celeste said.

"You need to do that too," Logan pointed out. "Learn to read each other without tapping into your abilities, since you've made it pretty clear that when you have the collars on and nothing to cheat with, neither one of you knows how to do that. You're here to learn how to use your powers to the fullest — but you need to know how to do everything without 'em too."

Celeste let out a frustrated noise, and Melody leaned against the counter as she screwed open her water bottle. "This is no fun," Melody muttered to her sister.

_Still can't read him?_

_Nope._

"Yeah, I hear that," Celeste said.

"You guys are gonna be late for class," James said as he pulled out a bottle of water for himself and leaned against the counter.

The girls glanced at the clock and let out simultaneous groans. "But we _smell_," Celeste said.

"Run faster next time," Logan replied, going back to his coffee.

"Ugh." Melody wiped her forehead and wrinkled her nose.

_Wonder if Kaleb will let us borrow the bamfs…._

_We can ask, _Melody agreed, and the two of them dragged themselves off to go find one of the Wagners.

When the girls were gone, James turned to his dad with a grin. "They're really not that bad off, are they?"

"Oh yeah," Logan said, nodding.

"Well … how delusional are they?"

"They think I'm tryin' to kill em — same old complaint -—and they agreed to a couple days with your mom instead."

James just started laughing at that. "Oh, yeah. Well, I can't feel too sorry for them if they just haven't been paying attention. At all. For their whole lives." He turned to head back upstairs. "Let me know if you need any help … I could use a run anyhow."

"Give it a couple days," Logan told him before James headed off at a jog, smirking to himself.


	11. Those Summers Girls

**Chapter 11: "Those Summers Girls" **

Jubilee's twins were struggling to keep up in self-defense. They were worn out, but at least in that class, they had some good friends. Kaleb always made a point to look out for the girls his age, so he usually volunteered to be a partner for one or the other in class, and Chloe usually worked with Sadie — though Logan made them take different partners and rotate through the class.

Today, Chloe was with her cousin, Michael. They were both the exact same age, but Chloe was taller than him — because girls grew faster than boys. And she was pretty sure she was better at fighting than him, too — though he was pretty good. His problem was that he had his dad's sense of priorities and would much rather be out on the lake now that it was May instead of actually putting in the effort in class.

Not every self-defense class had the dampeners up full force, so the kids always looked forward to the end of the class when they got to use their powers again. But that also meant that Chloe _knew _Michael was going to cheat when she got him into a solid pin, and the floor moved slightly under her knees when Michael messed with the metal there. She went sideways but took him with her, and they both went down, with Michael still caught in the pin.

"Ha!" Chloe said, grinning in triumph, though Michael finally rallied and reached around to pull Chloe over his shoulder in the move Logan had shown them last week. It was the first time he'd done it right.

"Ha!" he said right back as Chloe hit the floor, but the triumphant look quickly gave way to horror when Chloe hit at a bad angle. Her glasses flew off — and a beam of bright red went straight up through the ceiling.

All of the kids scattered when parts of the ceiling came down on them, and the kids in the classroom above them had to scatter, too, because the beam went all the way up through the roof. Chloe quickly closed her eyes, but the damage was already done.

Though Chloe was clearly panicked, Logan settled out the class quickly. In a moment, he'd scooped up Chloe and pulled her tightly into a hug. "Michael, pick up her visor. Everyone out. We're done today."

The kids ran out quickly, scattering from the falling dust from the ceiling, and Michael rushed over with Chloe's visor, looking wide-eyed. "I'm sorry — I didn't mean to—"

"Not your fault," Logan told him evenly. "It happens. Not yours either, Chloe."

Michael swallowed and nodded before he scampered with the rest of the kids, and Chloe readjusted the visor over her nose before she looked up at Logan — and at the damage she'd done. "Oh."

"Your dad's done a helluva lot worse," Logan promised. "And on accident too. Don't worry about it."

Chloe stared up at the hole to outside before she started to shake her head. "I broke the school!"

He shrugged. "We'll fix it."

She nodded and then buried her face in Logan's shoulder until she could get a hold of herself again — though by that time, Scott had come rushing into the room, his eyes wide when he saw the scene. "What happened?"

"Her visor got knocked loose. Everyone's fine," Logan told him.

Scott came to crouch down beside them anyway and pushed back Chloe's hair. "You okay?" he asked her.

She nodded quietly. "I'm fine."

Scott tipped his head to the side but waited for her to come unattached from Logan before he pulled her to her feet and into a hug of his own. "Why don't you and I go out?" he asked. "Milkshakes?"

Chloe couldn't help but smile and nod. "Yes please."

As soon as Chloe snuggled into Scott, Logan was sure to slip out of the way and leave them some privacy — and deal with what he was sure amounted to a handful of panicked kids.

"Is she okay?" Michael asked as soon as he saw Logan.

"She's fine," Logan promised. "Scott's got her. No one was hurt."

"So… how long is it gonna take to fix the hole to the sky?" Kaleb asked.

"Not as long as you'd think," Logan told him. "And until then, we'll hold class in the Danger Room."

The kids all looked a bit disappointed to hear that they weren't getting out of more classes than that, but they all headed off together.

* * *

Gerry couldn't stop his smile when his phone chimed and he glanced at it to see that he had two emails from Charlie. One was the usual update that all the Summerses and their friends were included on, and the other was part of a conversation between just the two of them.

He'd show the email to the others later, but he wanted to see what Charlie had to say to _him_, so he read that one first.

_Gerry,_

_Thanks for reaching out. You're right, of course; I definitely hate having to hide away. Cody still hasn't gotten over being captured, and I can hear him worrying about me and Chance all the time while we're here, but I'm more worried for my parents. I know you understand. I remember how worried you were about your parents after the thing with Viper._

_I hope you're doing alright, by the way. I really appreciate all your encouragement while I'm gone, but I wish I could do the same for you. It's not the same when I can't hug you when you're having a hard time. I know it feels like the Viper thing happened forever ago with everything else that's going on, but I haven't forgotten you, you know._

_I'm glad we get to see each other when I come to visit. Your advice means the world to me, you know._

_Otherwise, things are going well. I'll send the rest in the letter to the others. But I wanted to thank you myself._

_Missing you,_

-_Charlie_

Gerry grinned and then pocketed his phone again. He'd write a response when he had time to think about it. He knew Charlie genuinely worked out what to say, and he wanted to return the favor — but he was already going to miss lunch if he didn't grab something to eat now.

"Update from Charlie," Gerry said with a smile as he slid into a seat next to Krissy during their lunch break. Krissy was pretty miserable still after having been grounded, so Gerry had made it a point to try and look out for her and keep her spirits up, which included illicit emails on what the Summers clan was up to — since it was obvious she was missing Chance pretty badly.

Gerry wasn't sure it was healthy — but he also didn't want her to go insane either.

Krissy smiled up at Gerry and held out both hands. "Gimmie."

Gerry smirked and shook his head over as he scooted over so that she could read the email over his shoulder, just a general update on how things were going. Annie was trying to work something out so that the family could spend the summer together without risking the kids when they'd gone to such great lengths to keep them hidden away. Cody still had a crush on Paige, and he was still bad at hiding it. Chance was still _eating up _all of the new classes and the chance to do a little training that was different than what they'd grown up in.

Krissy nodded along to the email until they were both done reading it and then kissed Gerry on the cheek. "You are so good to be my supplier," she teased.

He shook his head at her and reached over to mess up her hair. "Anything to keep you from teleporting over an entire ocean, Kris."

She let out a sigh and rolled her eyes. "I _get _it. I'm not going to do that again."

"Yeah?" Gerry raised an eyebrow at her and allowed his honest concern to show through. "Because it kinda seems like you're still hung up."

"He's my _boyfriend_."

"Yeah, and you act like being separated is a death sentence," Gerry said, then shook his head lightly. "Listen, I get it. You like him. But I do think your parents are right. You're in way too deep."

Krissy rolled her eyes at him. "Thanks, Gerry; that's really helpful."

"Hey, someone's got to look out for you around here, and seeing as I'm the oldest…"

She pushed him in the shoulder. "You're _big brothering me_!" she said, sounding betrayed.

"Uh, yeah. Was that not obvious?"

She stared at him, her tail swaying behind her and giving away her annoyance. "For your information, there's nothing wrong with wearing your heart on your sleeve," she sniffed.

"Hey," Gerry said, holding up both hands. "You're talking to a card-carrying member of the red-sleeve club. I just want to be sure you're okay, that's all."

"Chance is a good guy, Gerry," Krissy said, shaking her head at him. "He's not going to hurt me."

"I didn't say he was gonna hurt you," Gerry said. He took a deep breath. "I heard you're trying to get transferred to Europe."

"Yeah, and?"

"And you shouldn't ask them until at least the summer."

"That'll be too late."

"Deadline's August," Gerry pointed out. "You have time." When Krissy looked pained, Gerry smirked. "Listen. I'll help you out, but you gotta be _patient_, okay?"

"I hate that word."

"I know. It's like kryptonite to Elves, isn't it."

Krissy let out a sigh, but Gerry knew she was going to agree to it before she even nodded, because her tail had stopped twitching in frustration.

* * *

"Okay, I know I shouldn't be wishing this on anybody, but it's kind of patently unfair that Chloe gets to stay home and we don't," Cody said.

The Summers kids were sitting in the living room in Europe, getting in a bit of relaxing now that most of the student population had gone to Westchester. It was the end of the semester, which meant there were final tests to be run in New York, but obviously, the three of them weren't going with the group. That would be a bit of a neon sign to anyone looking for them — a big gathering like that.

But that just meant they had more or less the run of the place, except for a few kids that were staying there over the summer. But for now, the living room was theirs, and they had been catching up on all the things happening back home via email.

Charlie shook her head at Cody without looking up from the book she was reading. "You don't mean that," she said simply.

"Charlie, don't read me," Cody muttered.

"I don't have to read you to know you don't mean that," Charlie said, still without looking up. "Considering who it is we're hiding from."

"Yeah," Cody admitted, then leaned back a bit, turning his glasses over in his hands as he sat back on the couch.

"If I _were _reading you," Charlie said quietly, "I'd say you were homesick."

Cody shot Charlie a little glare. "I said don't—"

"You brought it up," Charlie pointed out. She shrugged lightly, putting away her notebook where she had been doodling Gerry Drew's name in different lettering all semester and then tucking her feet up underneath her as she tipped her head to the side. "You're not _really _jealous of Chloe."

"They've got the same exact powers," Chance pointed out lazily from where he was playing darts in the corner of the room. "Kinda hard to be jealous of that."

"And I definitely had the cooler explosion when I got them," Cody agreed.

Charlie smirked at her brothers before she went back to her book. "You're such _boys_."

"Are we supposed to be anything else?" Chance shot back with a crooked smile.

Charlie rolled her eyes and then pulled up her phone. Now that she was done with her chapter, she wanted to email Gerry back home. After all, hearing that Krissy had managed to get out of jail, more or less, was enough to put Chance in a good mood, but the fact that she was also trying to get her parents to agree to let her do a semester (or two) in Europe meant that Charlie had a _serious _high to bum off of with her brother.

Besides, Gerry had been wonderful in his most recent email, reassuring her that he was fine and that he was more than happy to give her advice whenever she needed it. And with an offer like that on the table...

_Hey Gerry,_

_I just wanted to say thanks for looking out for Krissy ... and… well, everybody out there. It's good to hear Krissy's Total Grounding is finally starting to lift; I think Chance was going through withdrawals. I caught him grinning and feeling really good about himself, so I think he got the email you forwarded from her. You're a sweetheart._

_I know you said you wanted to stay in Westchester and keep learning defense and combat and stuff, but I wanted to ask you… are you only doing it because of Viper, or do you really want to join the team?_

_It's just that everyone in my family wants to be an X-Man except Mom, and I know Dad's been so supportive of me just wanting to go to college (I think I've finally decided on psychiatry, by the way, which is plenty of school too). _

_And after meeting Charles Xavier, I can't help wondering if maybe I SHOULD be an X-Man. I mean, shouldn't I be putting my all into this? Live up to the dream?_

_I don't know; I'm feeling a little listless ever since then because James won't let me help him with our project, and I just want to be able to DO something. _

_So I wanted to know how you knew that you wanted to join the team … or at least start more intensive training. You always said you wanted to be a doctor, and now that's changed. _

_Thanks again for being there for all our friends _— _and for me._

_~Charlie_

She leaned back with a little smile and couldn't help but break into a full grin when Chance sat down beside her. "What's got you in such a good mood?" he asked.

"I'm actually not," she said, shaking her head. "But you are."

"Glad to share it, then," he said, putting his feet up on the table in front of them in a way that Moira would definitely get onto him about if she caught him; considering he had just spent the day with Piotr first wrestling and then running, his shoes were filthy and smelly.

But she couldn't help but smile at her brother when he was in such a good mood. "Gerry told me about Krissy," she explained.

Chance's grin widened, and the rush of pleasure was honestly enjoyable from where Charlie was sitting. "Yeah, well, we'll see," he said. "Her parents are still pretty peeved about the whole… teleporting across the Atlantic."

Charlie smirked at him. "You're both impulsive."

Chance tucked his hands behind his head. "I think that's why we work."

"Because you both get yourselves into trouble when you don't _think_?" Charlie teased.

"Uh ... yes."

Charlie smiled and shook her head at him. "Well, Gerry said she's been on her _very _best behavior. And it would be nice to have someone out here from home."

"No kidding," he agreed. "I mean, don't get me wrong: I'm totally loving the lessons with Piotr—"

"And flying with Jean-Paul and psychic defense with Betsy and shooting with Brian…"

"Hey, so I like this place. Sue me. It's kind of nice being able to have classes with people who didn't help, you know, teach me how to feed myself and change my diapers?" Chance pointed out, leaning even further back. "Besides, the psychic defense class… that's actually kind of a big deal. I know we got some of it from Rachel growing up, but it's not the same as a full _class_, you know?"

"And you love the chance to prove you can handle anything the team will throw at you," she said.

"Are you punning with my name?" Chance shot back with a smirk. "You've been emailing Gerry _way _to much if that's the case."

"No, you goon, I was just—" Charlie let out a sigh.

Chance leaned over to pull her into a quick hug. "I knew what you meant," he said with an easy smile. He made sure to ruffle her hair before he added, "You said you weren't in a good mood?"

Charlie let out a breath. "Just… neutral."

"Anything I can do?"

She shook her head lightly. "No. I just… need to figure some things out," she admitted. "We're going into junior year, you know."

"Yeah, I thought you knew what you wanted to major in, though," he pointed out.

She shook her head. "I do. I was just… trying to decide on a few other things."

Chance sat up a little straighter and tipped his head to the side as he watched her. "Seriously, anything I can do?"

"Sorry, but you can't make my decisions for me," she said with a smirk.

"Yeah, well, whatever it is that's up, I'll back you on it," he decided.

She smiled at him and ruffled his hair right back. "Love you too," she said.

He grinned and vaulted off the couch, going back to his game of darts for a minute before she heard his phone buzz, and his whole face lit up as he swept up the phone and pressed it to his ear. "Hey, Kris," he said, already headed for the door for some privacy.

Charlie couldn't help but smile at the great mood Chance was in now. For as much as he loved training and taking the classes out there, he loved people more. Sure, she didn't know all the reasons behind people's emotions, but she knew her brother. And he needed to be loved.

She was just about to go back to her book when her phone chimed — an email from Gerry.

_Lottie - _

_First of all, I'm glad I was able to help my fellow Hawk. Krissy needed the help to focus. She doesn't really do well on her own, to be honest._

_As for the rest of it…_

_The thing is, the thing with Viper really just cemented it for me that I should join the team. Not to take care of myself _— _that's kind of what the defense classes are for. But… I saw good people get torn apart by Hydra. I did it to them myself. And sure, when I'm a doctor, I can save people from that kind of thing, but I got to see firsthand that the X-Men, the Avengers, SHIELD… when they lose, it's not pretty._

_And that kind of terrifies me, because I obviously don't want it to happen to me? But it would tear me up knowing it was happening to someone else and I could stop it. I mean, I've got super strength. I can climb walls. And I learned when I was with Hydra that my light powers are pretty darn formidable._

_So I CAN fight, and I should, even if most of the time, I'm going to be ready and waiting to stitch up the team when they get home. _

_But that doesn't mean that's the right answer for you. The things you can do aren't really about fighting, at least not physically. But you're like me with my medical degree: you can save people, save lives. I mean, speaking as someone who spent a month with an evil Hydra lady who thinks she's my grandmother, mental health gets overlooked too much in what we do._

_You don't have to be on the team to save lives. And, you know, I'm pretty sure Professor X didn't go out fighting with the team. I may be wrong on that, but that's kind of how it sounds. _

_You're not going against the dream because you want to help people your way. That's kind of the whole POINT of the dream. At least, that's how I understand it, right? _

_I mean, I may be wrong. I grew up an Avenger. But I'm pretty sure I'm at least right about the fact that you shouldn't feel like you HAVE to do something. Do something because you love it. It sounds like a post card, I know, but hey, you did ask._

_Anyway, hope you're having a blast in Europe. If you do end up stealing some inducers for a summer tour of the continent, please send pictures. I did the tour thing with Mom a while back and loved it, so I'm kinda jealous, not gonna lie._

_See ya soon,_

_~Ger_

Charlie read over the email a few times, her head tipped to the side as she considered it. She could see where he was coming from, but she still wasn't sure it helped much with her dilemma. She had _loved _that sense of purpose when she had talked to Professor X about Amy. And she wasn't able to work on it with James, for whatever reason.

She was feeling honestly like she was spinning her wheels, and she hated it.

She sighed and pulled up one more email:

_James,_

_Hey, I know things are kind of… bad since what happened with Amy. And I know it messed us both up. I can still feel it when I visit. But I just wanted to remind you that I still do believe in what we're doing. And I want to help others with it. But I don't want to rush you, either._

_Just… let me know what I can do. You know I'm here for whatever you need. _

_Got your back,_

_-Charlie_


	12. What Were You Thinking?

**Chapter 12: "What Were You Thinking?"**

After Charlie's ridiculously horrible reaction to dealing with Amy, James didn't really take a lot of time to figure out how to deal with the issue. Not at first, anyhow. To begin with, he decided, even after talking to her, that the best course of action was to shut it down entirely. But that didn't stop the nagging doubt in the back of his head that he needed to make it work. Not just because she wanted it, but because, in theory, it was such a _good _tool. The problem, of course, was that it was far too dangerous to let her test, even if it was her powerset. It was clear letting her play with it was a major mistake without a better guinea pig to run it through first.

But the problem was who to get. Her powerset was fairly narrow and not entirely common. Even if he _knew _of another empath, chances were good they processed the whole thing differently than she did, and the sensitivity … well. That would definitely be an issue.

There was another way, of course. It would be considered _highly _illegalif the substance was even a solid, known formula. But … it hadn't _technically _hit the FDA for any kind of public, legal shoot down. Which meant it wasn't exactly _illegal _\- though clearly frowned upon in the circles James ran in.

Access wasn't an issue. Most of the known research was either in Dr. McCoy's office or in Reed Richards' place. Both of which were easy enough for James to get into without any fuss — or any appointment.

He hedged his bets and thought it over for a long while before he headed down to see Uncle Blue. He'd been open to letting him in on all of the research for Cerebro. He knew he wouldn't be on board for what James was planning, but … he didn't really need to know about it either. After all, if there was testing that needed to be done, it had been proven over and over again for the bad guys _and _the good guys that his family were pretty much the perfect guinea pigs. Whatever happened, he'd heal.

It was easy enough to swipe the right drugs out of the lab — and James had already rather painfully spent weeks testing out an inhibitor bracelet that he'd made that pinpointed _only _his healing. That was a fun dry run. He'd popped the claws on one hand and bled enough that he nearly passed out before he got the bracelet off. But it was the key piece he needed to even get the drugs to work on himself, so he kept at it until he got it right.

So now, it was just a matter of putting it all together.

In spite of telling Charlie that he was tearing it down nearly to the frame to rebuild, it really wasn't that extensive of an affair. The sensors were wrong — but that actually simplified it when he took into account that he could make it _focus _better. Sensitivity, he knew, was problematic, but again … he had no way of knowing if he was adjusting the right way or not without trying it - and there was no way in hell he was going to ask Charlie to possibly try out something _worse _than the first run.

James looked toward the family's suite and shoved everything he needed into a carbon-lined backpack before his parents could get back. He had the amulet, the inhibitor, a laptop to record his data... and he'd pick up the drugs out of the hiding spot he'd found that was far enough out of both of his parent's usual paths and encased in a carbon lined container, so he didn't worry much about anyone finding it. All he needed now was to get somewhere that he could have some solid alone time to get to work.

He already knew that the usual spots would be too easy to find, so he wandered the lesser-used section of the school until he found a classroom that had about six years of dust covering all the surfaces inside. He stepped inside and set up to get started, waiting until after he had all of his leads and monitors settled before he took the dose of boost that he'd taken from Blue's lab. They'd discovered early on that there were several varieties … and this one was his best shot at replicating Charlie's abilities, so it seemed to be the best choice to test with rather than letting Charlie take the brunt of the testing on herself. It was hard enough to even consider making her something of this caliber. The fact that she was rarely home made it next to impossible to test _anyhow_.

It took a few minutes, but once it started to work, James concentrated, trying to find anyone or anything that he could latch onto to test with … and when he felt a huge rush of half a dozen conflicting emotions with no one to tie them to, he knew he'd hit paydirt.

He gave it a little time, trying to get his bearings under control and doing what he could to try and center himself as he prepped the amulet. He'd made the adjustments for sensitivity a lot finer, though he really didn't know which way was hotter until he tried it.

And when he flipped the device on — it was much more crushing than he'd expected, even after Charlie telling him what had happened. It was _almost_ enough to stop him dead in his tracks, so he was sure he'd gotten it turned down a little bit anyhow. The problem of course, was that the worse the emotional feedback got — and the longer he had it on — the less he could _think _properly.

It took him far too long to finally reach up and fiddle with the sensitivity, and when he did, he knew right away how massive a mistake it was. It was absolutely configured backwards. He was already sitting cross-legged on the ground, so at least he couldn't fall down, but … he wasn't sure he could breathe right either as what could only be described as a panic attack started up in earnest.

James had no idea how long it took him, but finally, he pulled the amulet off and threw it across the room. His hands were shaking as he simply curled up into a ball with no plan other than just riding it out. With the amulet off, it wasn't nearly as crushing … but he couldn't think still to get the inhibitor off, and the feedback had been substantial.

He didn't know how long it had been before someone sat next to him, and a furry hand rested on his arm. "James," Kari said, looking incredibly concerned. "Are you hurt?"

But when James couldn't answer her, Kari looked even more worried, and she made a quick check: he wasn't bleeding, there wasn't a mark on him besides the weird metal bracelet, but he was still curled up and unresponsive, and she didn't know _why_.

Of course, her fear was that someone like Sinister had managed to get into the mansion despite all the precautions the adults had taken. After all, James had been a mess after that too. But this didn't quite seem like the same thing. James would at least talk to her if it was a physical hurt like that and he'd healed from it.

Unless it was internal?

Kari shook her head. "I'm taking you to Hank," she decided at last, since it was obvious to her that something was _wrong_.

"No."

"You're hurt," she pointed out.

He shook his head, though he kept his eyes screwed shut. "'m okay," he whispered.

Kari frowned at him, her eyebrows scrunched together, before her gaze fell on a blinking green light on the bracelet. "Is that…" She let the question trail off and looked around instead for a key of some kind. "What have you gotten yourself _into_," she muttered, not really asking him but looking for a way out all the same.

When she finally found what she was looking for, she didn't bother asking before she got the bracelet off and tossed it aside, watching James to see if there was any improvement before she simply let out a sigh and climbed into the space beside him to pull his head into her lap and just sit there with him in a snuggle, not sure what was going on.

After a little while, James relaxed and seemed to let out a breath, though it was clear he was content to stay right there.

"You gonna tell me what happened?" Kari asked quietly.

"Turned the gain the wrong way."

"And that turned you into a ball of terror… why?"

"Um … I need better microadjustments?"

Kari frowned at him for a second, looking around the room before she spotted the busted up pendant and finally put it together. "You _can't _be serious," she breathed out, tipping her head down to look at him. "You're not empathic, James. What if that thing fries your head?"

"Then I'll fit in at Starks' labs."

"I'm being serious, James," Kari said, one eyebrow raised.

"It won't fry my head," James argued. "And if it did, I'd heal from it."

"Not wearing an inhibitor you wouldn't."

"I'll make a better kill switch."

"You _can't _do this to yourself — _by _yourself," she pointed out.

"Okay."

"There's a reason you need the backup - in case you can't hit the kill switch. I thought that was the point of you and Charlie working with Rachel and Hank on this."

"I _said _okay," he replied. "I just wanted this closer to useable before Charlie got back."

Kari watched him with a little frown before she let out a sigh and kissed his cheek. "That was horrible, James," she told him quietly. "I don't want to ever see my best friend hurting that badly again, so don't do that to yourself. Please."

"Alright."

She tilted her head sideways again and let out a breath. "Do you feel like doing anything? A movie or… we could go riding…"

"I really don't, but …" James rubbed his hand over his eyes as he tried to recenter himself. "Whatcha got in mind? You wanna run a marathon or something?"

"No, but I've been reliably informed by all of my friends that I've watched go through something hard that moving and getting your mind on something new helps," she admitted.

"I'm just tired, really," he promised.

"Cody told me what happened with Charlie. I know it's more than just tired," she said. "And you've been here a few hours now, so, you know, I think it's time to move on."

"That … would explain the tired," James said with a sigh.

"If you just want to stay here, at least let me find some music and a sketch pad so you're not here in the empty silence or something."

"No, I want to get out of this room. I gotta grab my gear," he said already sitting up to see where it had gone. "Then I think … maybe I should just … go to sleep."

"Let me get it for you," she said. "If you're that tired, I'll just drop it by your room."

"That's alright; I can get it now," he argued, reaching over to grab the laptop.

"Sure." She got up to cross the room and grabbed the bracelet and key for herself. "And I'll just keep this."

He glanced up at her as he shoved the laptop into his backpack. "You act like I only made one."

"Call it a little reassurance that I can take to Hank or someone if you do it again and I need help saving your butt. Again."

"Oh, so it's blackmail then," he said, nodding.

"Sure, if that's what you want to call it," she said with a shrug. "I'm fine with that."

"Fair enough," he answered in a duller tone than she was used to hearing from him as he made his way over to pick up the necklace. "Crap. Of course I broke the housing. Why wouldn't I?"

Kari frowned at him before she simply teleported over to where he was. "Take me out," she said.

"What?"

"Take me out," she said. "Let's go somewhere. Ice cream or smoothies or hot dogs or whatever. But you need to get out of the house, and I want to spend time with you."

"I'd like to direct you to the gi-normous bounty on all of my family members' heads … so … I'll need a raincheck."

"You'll need an inducer."

"I don't _have _an inducer."

"Well, isn't it lucky my dad has a few?" she said.

"Last thing I need is everyone on my back about sneaking out," he replied.

She rolled her eyes. "We'd _ask_. I'm not my sister."

"Tell you what: you go ask — and figure out the most adult-acceptable way to get around — and I'll put this stuff away."

"Deal," she said before she simply disappeared in blue smoke.

James shook his head and started out toward the stairs. He was 98% sure that it didn't matter how it was dressed up: he wasn't going anywhere.

But it wasn't ten minutes before Kari appeared in front of him, holding an inducer out to him. "I hope you don't mind looking like Kaleb for a while, but we figured it was less conspicuous if it looked like a sibling date."

"Who is 'we'?"

"Me, my parents, and Scott," Kari listed off on her fingers, then smirked at him for a second. "Yes, I know, that was fast. Instant travel, my friend."

"Sounds like a prepared statement, too." James stopped and tipped his head to the side. "You been working out ways to get me out of the house with you?"

"I might maybe have been thinking long and hard about how to get your family out a little more," she said with a shrug.

He stared up at her. "Do I have to change?"

"No, you're wearing a nice tee shirt and jeans in the inducer."

"Well, I guess it's decided for me, isn't it?"

She shook her head at him. "I'm sorry; I thought what I heard you say was, 'Thank you, Kari, for thinking of something I didn't think of so we could get out for a while.'"

"Yeah … why are you so pushy, sis?"

"Maybe if you wouldn't end up curled up in a ball on the ground, I wouldn't be," she pointed out.

"So many expectations," he grumbled halfheartedly before he pulled his shoes back on.

* * *

Ever since Kari had gone into town with James, she'd been keeping an eye on him — or enlisting the bamfs' help to do so.

She thought it had been good for him to get out of the house, at least, though he had been incredibly quiet most of the time they were together. And she just didn't trust that, especially when he had been curled up in a ball when she found him.

But she was trying to be discreet about her spying, so first, she called up Cody and asked him about what had happened with Charlie. Once she had more or less an understanding of what was going on — albeit a little brother's understanding — the real question was how James thought that anything he tested on himself was going to even remotely pertain to what he was working on. If they were focusing Charlie's powers, he would need an empath, wouldn't he?

That more than anything else had her stuck. He had been wearing an inhibitor when she found him, so didn't that mean he had _no _powers?

But it wasn't until the semester was over and Krissy had just gotten back from a mission with the team — the last one before the Summers clan headed to Europe using six of her dad's inducers (further proof, she thought, that getting _away _was so, so important) — that she finally started to get an idea.

Krissy had come back a bit banged up, and so had Sying. But they had all come back with a guy hyped up on that 'boost' drug — and he hadn't been boosting his own powers. The kid had some minor super strength, but the drug had given him telekenesis.

And then it _finally _clicked for Kari. _That _was how James could test the other version of Cerebro on himself. That was how he could copy empathic abilities. And that was why he needed the inhibitor — so the drug didn't burn out of his system too quickly.

So now that she knew what he had been doing, she had to watch to see if he'd try it again.

No, she had to watch to see _when _he would try it again, because she was sure he would. If he wasn't already. The idea of one of her best friends going to such lengths to take an illegal drug just to test something without pulling in outside help had her angry. James meant the _world _to her; couldn't he see that he was hurting himself? Didn't he _care_?

She had the bamfs on the case — and it really was like a case, she couldn't help but think — and was sure she'd catch James eventually… until it was _Charlie _who ended up, unexpectedly, on Kari's side.

Kari had been sneaking down the hall when she almost ran right into Charlie, who looked wide-eyed and flat out worried. Charlie marched straight past Kari, and she looked so determined that Kari decided it was best to follow her.

Charlie didn't need to check doors or sneak around — she had a fix on James' 'song' — and just threw open the door to the room he had holed up in to find that he was, once again, curled up and totally overwhelmed.

"_What were you thinking?_" Charlie asked, even as she rushed over to take the pendant and Kari ported over to get the bracelet off of James. When Charlie looked up at Kari with an almost accusatory expression, Kari frowned and handed her the bracelet.

"He's been doping," she explained, "to become an empath."

"You _what_?" Charlie turned to face James, looking more and more like her father all of a sudden.

"I had to see why it wasn't working right for you," James defended. "I got it turned down now. Just … overdid the drug."

"You… you wouldn't let me work on it!" Charlie said, totally dumbfounded.

"Because your dad was worried you'd get fried."

"Which was why he wanted us to test it _with Hank and Rachel!_" Charlie said.

"So you can go ahead and test it with Hank and Rachel," he shot back.

She shook her head. "I wanted to help with all of it," she said. "These are _my _powers!" She didn't pause when Kari disappeared in a poof of blue but narrowed her eyes further at him. "I don't need to be coddled with my _own powers_."

"I'm not gonna apologize for saving you a few breakdowns."

"I can _handle _a few breakdowns," Charlie shot back. "I used to have one every day by lunchtime!"

"_You_ were ready to quit," James pointed out. "And you went from a whole afternoon in a breakdown to talking about _time travel_. I wasn't going to stand back and watch you do that again."

"So you saw one moment of weakness in me and decided to kick me out of the whole project," she said, her eyes narrowed.

"No, I decided to let the worst part of my crappy tuning go to me instead."

"That wasn't your decision to make," Charlie said.

"I disagree."

"This project means the _world _to me, James!" Charlie shot back. "It's the first time I've really felt like I can _help_!"

"Which is why I didn't want you fried from it."

"It didn't fry you — and you're _way _more emotional than I am!"

"I can heal," he argued.

"From physical hurt," she shot back. "But I gotta tell you, James—" She hadn't even noticed Kari arriving with K and Logan. "—your whole family is more emotional than _anyone _else I've ever met."

"Oh, I'm not so sure about that," K said from behind Charlie.

Charlie spun around to face K and shook her head. "No. These are my powers. And the intensity of emotions I feel around all of you? Yeah. Why do you think you're so easy to read?"

"Maybe because you _want _to read us," K teased with a little smirk.

"No, it's been this way since I got my powers," Charlie said. "Intense, complex, more emotions than you know what to do with… Honestly, you guys used to give me headaches, but I didn't want to say anything."

"What's goin' on, kiddo?" Logan asked, looking between the two teenagers that were still more or less squared off.

"James has been doping to give himself _my _powers to test out our project without me," Charlie said, her eyes still narrowed.

"Is that true?" Logan asked, turning his focus on James — and not surprised one bit when the young man simply nodded.

"It was too sensitive, so I wanted to get it better tuned before she tried to use it again," James said.

"It was _my _decision, and he took it away from me," Charlie shot back.

"And my machine," James countered. "And it's a good thing I did, because the damn thing was reversed after the first major adjustment."

"It was still my risk to take. My powers," Charlie said. "And I just told you: you are way more emotional than me."

"Maybe that'd make it easier to process," K said, though she was watching James with narrowed eyes.

"He's not processing it," Kari said softly, her hands deep in her pockets, not looking James' way. "He was curled into a ball last time I found him too."

"Go get Scott in here, Kari," K instructed. "Give him the reader's digest version before he comes in. I want to know where everyone is before I start hitting people."

Kari nodded and quickly teleported off, leaving James with his parents and Charlie — who still looked furious with him. But it was another ten minutes before Kari brought Scott there — and it was clear Scott was on Charlie's side from the _look _he had on his face and the nearly identical "What were you _thinking_?" that he led with.

"It was too strong the first time." James said, crossing his arms. "I was trying to make it easier for her."

"Yes, which is why I told you to do your trials in a controlled environment. Under _supervision_. With _failsafes_. And _support_," Scott said. "And you did _none _of those things."

"I have failsafes built in now — and redundancies on top of them. It's ready for testing now."

"How many trials did it take to get it there?" Scott demanded. "How many times did you put yourself through emotional hell before you decided it was ready?"

He shrugged and kept his gaze to the ground. "Doesn't matter."

Scott let out a frustrated noise and crossed the room to stand in front of James. "You are _not _an expendable test subject," he said sharply. "You're my _godson_. What if no one had found you? Did you even think of the possibilities?"

"It was on a timer," he muttered. "It would have turned itself off."

"Leaving us to find you in a total breakdown to pick up the pieces of what you were working on." Scott shook his head. "James, how many times? You have to _think_. You're a genius. _Use _your mind!"

James had no response. It was clear that neither Summers was getting where they wanted to be, and K had enough. She stalked across the room to where James was standing and simply smacked him in the back of the head. "I've got it from here."

Scott frowned K's way, but seeing her expression, he stepped back. "I want all of the inhibitor bracelets. All of them," he told James.

"They only work once," James said. "But if you want them, they're yours."

"On my desk," Scott said before he put a hand on Charlie's shoulder to steer her toward the door. "Thank you, Kari," he said as he passed her, and she turned a brilliant purple, still standing with her arms wrapped around herself.

"I'm sorry, James," she said before she too slipped out of the room.

The door had barely closed before K turned his way with a hiss — not over the testing. Not really. But the rest of it. She was mad that he hadn't brought Charlie in sooner. "She could have at _least _helped monitor things if you were going to be a stubborn ass about it," she told him. "And the drug? Really?"

"Did what I needed it to do," James muttered, but that got a crack in the back of the head from his father.

"And the tech?" Logan asked. "Tell me you didn't work on that in Stark's system."

"No. There are no blueprints of it at all. Anywhere."

"You're going to apologize to Charlie," K told him. "And you're going to mean it. If you still don't know where you went wrong, I'll draw you a freakin' flow chart — because my dear, sweet boy … it flowed. So. Wrong."

"You're not going back to the tower for a while," Logan told him. "And no more runs out for whatever the hell any of the Elves come up with."

"I'll talk to Tony and tell him what you did — especially since this sounds like something _he'd _pull," K added.

"Fine," James grumbled, though he stuck with his father as he gathered up the inhibitors — and took the time to explain to him that by the time they unlocked, all of the circuits were melted. Though explaining them to Scott was a different story. "They only turned off the healing," James said as he set the last one in front of him.

"Kari figured that out, actually," Scott told him, eyeing the inhibitors with a look of deep suspicion. "How?"

James raised an eyebrow and took a deep breath. "Same kind of general idea as the pendant. Find the right wavelength to follow …" He shook his head. "There is no blueprint of it. Anywhere. No notes. And they melted inside by the time I was done with them."

"James… We have to get rid of these. Entirely. And if I hear a whisper of this kind of thing…" Scott shook his head. "Do you have any idea how damaging this could be? At all?"

"Yes," James said, nodding along. "Which is why I didn't put it anywhere. I know exactly how that could play out."

Scott watched the young man in front of him for a long time. "James, I trust you," he said slowly. "That's why I give you a lot of leeway here. So the fact that you had to go behind my back to work on this project..." He shook his head. "You knew what you were doing. On every level." With that, he scrubbed a hand over his face. "I'm taking my family out for the summer. If I have to come back because you've decided your life is somehow less precious than anyone else's, so help me, I'll make _sure _you regret it."

James frowned at him for a moment. "I don't know what …" He shook his head and re-crossed his arms.

"Ask your mother," Scott said before he got to his feet, taking the inhibitors with him. "Seeing as she and Logan are running the place while I'm gone." With that, he simply left the office — intending to blast the inhibitors to pieces.


	13. The Power of Flirting

**Chapter 13: "The Power of Flirting"**

Scott was still in a mood from the way he'd had to leave things in Westchester — not to mention Charlie was still understandably annoyed by the whole thing. Which was annoying to Annie, because they had been looking forward to having their entire family together for the first time in months for _any _real length of time.

But that didn't mean Annie wasn't going to spoil her boys for attention, even though Charlie wasn't exactly in the mood. At the moment, they didn't look like themselves, all of them tanned and blonde, though Scott and Annie both had white hair — Annie had teased Scott that she didn't mind looking a little older to match him, which got an incredibly dry look out of him.

It was also a sneaky way to get him to use his cane a little more, but that was between her and Hank and not at _all _the reason she'd asked for the two of them to have slightly older images.

"Mom, stop messing with my hair," Cody said finally, batting her hand away.

Annie couldn't help but smile at him. She'd been pushing his hair back, but that was more to check the inducer than anything else. He and Chloe both still needed to wear the glasses on occasion — Chloe more than Cody — and those were a dead giveaway. But with the inducer on, it really did look like Cody wasn't wearing any glasses.

"It's gonna be fine, Mom," Chloe said, pulling her hair back into a ponytail.

Annie smiled Chloe's way. "I know it will be," she said. "I was just thinking I'll have to thank Kurt for making sure to keep your eyes brown."

"Mo-o-om," Cody complained, but she kissed his forehead anyway.

"I think mine are hazel," Chance said, looking in the mirror closer. "Cool."

"Just make sure to keep these safe," Scott said again, tapping the inducer Chloe was wearing.

"I know, Dad; you said that already," Chloe said.

"Yeah, well, I mean it," Scott said.

Chloe smiled up at him for a second before she tipped her head toward her brothers and raised an eyebrow their way, getting them both to smirk before they came over to rescue her.

Chance and Cody flanked Scott and got their shoulders underneath his arms with easy smiles. "Come on — we're going to miss the cruise launch if we have to keep waiting on the inducer safety speech," Chance said.

"Besides, we've heard it five times now."

"You can give it to us again on the ship if you _have _to," Chance agreed.

"We'll listen this time and everything," Cody joked.

Scott shook his head at both of them. "I thought you said you wanted to leave the cabin. At all. During the cruise."

"Come on, Dad!" Cody frowned.

"Why don't you both just help with the luggage before you talk yourselves into trouble," Annie suggested, though she couldn't help but smirk at the boys. She knew it was just a matter of bad timing — they were both in good moods for finally getting off Muir Island for a while, but Scott wasn't in the mood for teasing just yet.

The boys both nodded, and Chance scooped Chloe up and give her a piggyback ride as they got ready to board the ship, with Chloe hanging on delightedly and Annie smiling after them.

She had high hopes that this trip was going to be good for their family.

* * *

To say that Logan and K were unamused with James' testing practices would have been an understatement of massive proportions. But the truth of the matter was that neither one of them could quite fathom _why _he'd volunteer himself up for any kind of testing. Of course, with their shared background, their disbelief was understandable … but James stood strong in his insistence that it was better that he dealt with it rather than let Charlie have to handle it.

"Besides," James had said after he finally got tired of trying to defend himself over and over, "it's not like it's entirely useable yet. There's still a lot of testing to be done."

"So what did you do, then, outside of bashing yourself?" K demanded with a glare that James had never seen directed his way.

"He was taking it down from a nuke to a daisy cutter," Logan answered for him, his arms crossed over his chest. "I get it … but maybe if it was that nasty to start with, you shouldn't have been doing it at all. Not to yourself … not to her … not at all."

James looked for a moment as if Logan had hit him. That was _not at all _the point. "But this … okay," James said, finally trying to backtrack. "The whole point of this is that her abilities work on a different level than psychic—"

"Oh, believe me," Logan cut across. "We get the concept. It's your execution that sucked."

There was a long pause before K broke the silence. "Shipment of hay coming in this afternoon."

"I'll be stacking," James guessed, nodding.

"You'll be stacking it all summer," K corrected. "All three cuttings."

"That's not so horrible," James said quietly.

"And mending the fences," Logan added.

"You weren't kidding about manual labor all summer," James said with a frown. "That'll take weeks."

"Kind of the point. Maybe you just need a break from all the labs," K told him. "Get outside. Get some work done."

He nodded but got up to get changed. It might be getting hot, but even working, it wasn't quite warm enough to _start_ without a decent shirt.

"That's not all," Logan said when James emerged from his room. "Your training is getting stepped up. You wanted to learn the samurai stuff … all of that's gonna be on the docket."

James nodded — at least that was a silver lining. He _had _wanted to do more of the intensive martial arts training, so maybe this was going to work out after all.

His mother wasn't joking around. Logan had come down to make sure that he had plenty to do — but James was alone in stacking as Logan kept him in good supply, and by the time the two of them had finally worked through three hundred bales, even a young man with a healing ability was worn out. And he wasn't really excited to hear that more was coming the next day.

Sweaty, dirty, overheated, and completely worn out, James made his way back up to the house — finally. He didn't have the energy to acknowledge the Wagner girls when he passed them by, even though both of them cheerfully said hello and Krissy even asked if he was going to join them for a movie later.

"He's not allowed," Elin said after James had turned the corner. "Mom and Dad are really working him over this time. Though I'm not entirely sure which angle is the source of his trouble."

"Do you mean ignoring Scott, or testing unproven machinery, or drugging himself to do it alone, or needlessly abusing himself as a lab rat… or .." Kari listed off, still frowning at where James had disappeared.

"Yes to all of that plus his stupidity in making a collar that halts healing only," she agreed. "They are all kinds of shades of mad."

"It's a curse. One of us in the house has to be in the doghouse at all times with our parents," Krissy said.

"If that's true, then we're all clear for the summer," Elin said dryly.

"I hope so, seeing as I only just got _out _of the doghouse," Krissy said.

"And the twins are down to just the last two days of running with Logan… _if _they can keep from getting in each other's heads that long and adding _another _day," Kari said.

"Oh, so never," Krissy said with a smirk.

"They're getting better about it," Elin told her.

"Because they've learned the fear of K," Kari laughed.

"They kind of needed it," Elin defended. "And insulting Dad wasn't real smart either. So …"

"Oh, I'm not arguing that," Kari pointed out. "My favorite little healer is doing the consequences dance right now. I know it's a thing."

Elin was smirking at her. "He's just getting started on the consequences. Mom and Dad have been brainstorming _together _on how to keep it going full bore all summer."

"So we'll never see him again; got it," Krissy said, nodding.

"You'll see him," Sadie said as she joined the little group with Kaleb. "Just like that … ready to pass out."

"Yeah, but Kari wants to _see _him," Kaleb whispered in Sadie's ear.

"So she can go watch him work," Sadie said.

"Hear that, sis?" Kaleb smirked her way.

"You are not funny," Kari said, looking more purple than usual.

"She's just pointing out opportunities," Elin said. "Leave it to her to know how to suggest where and when you can watch boys. Even if it's her own _brother _she's narcing out."

"No accounting for taste," Sadie said with a shrug.

"I don't… you…" Kari spluttered.

"Uh-huh," Kaleb said, shaking his head, then leaned over to Sadie. "Why can't I have normal sisters? One almost dies crossing an ocean for a boy and the other can't even _watch _when there's an opening."

"Like I have any room to talk?" Sadie replied. "My big sister is bored with the big guy that's bending over backwards to talk to her and hold her hand." She let her voice drop to a whisper. "She forgot about a date with him and fell asleep with a book instead of getting in kissing time."

Kaleb's eyebrows shot up as he turned Sadie's way. "If _I _was kissing someone cute, I wouldn't forget."

"I lost track of time," Elin said, throwing a pillow at him. "And I don't hang my life off of my dates."

"No, of course not, but there are some pleasures in life," Kaleb said haughtily before he decided to prove his point by pulling Sadie over and kissing her. Then, he paused and raised an eyebrow. "Did it work this time?"

"I keep telling you: you need to be the one to get surprised," Sadie told him with a smile. "Not that I'm opposed to being ready."

"Yes, but I'm not very patient," Kaleb said.

"Well, that's a shame," she said with a shrug. "Because it's going to be hard for me to try if you keep beating me to the punch."

He grinned at her and kissed her cheek. "Are you backing away from a challenge?"

"Not even a chance of that," she said, shaking her head.

"Oh. My. Gosh. You are _babies_. Stop that," Krissy said, wrinkling her nose at them.

"Jealous."

"That's my _brother_."

"I didn't say you wanted to kiss _him,_" Sadie said with her nose scrunched up. "But if I can direct Kari on where she can stare at _my _brother, what's the problem here?"

"You're both, like, ten." Krissy waved her hand at them.

"And you're trying to tell me you weren't doing stuff like this?" Sadie challenged.

"She has a point, Krissy. You really don't have a leg to stand on," Kari giggled.

Sadie got to her feet. "I'm gonna go swimming. Just watching James reminded me of how miserable it is outside."

"Hey, now _that's _an idea," Kaleb said, grinning widely. "I'll round up the others."

"He means the twins so he can try kissing them," Kari said, just to rile her big sister and get her to wrinkle her nose.

"You never know," Kaleb said with a smile before he rushed off.

"He's going to be horrible when he starts actually teleporting," Krissy said, shaking her head.

"Like that's never happened," Elin deadpanned. "You had such self control."

"You never know. He might be wrong. I didn't teleport because of kissing," Krissy pointed out. "That was _your _brother's fault."

"Troublemakers. All of them," Elin said.

"Must be why our families get along so well," Krissy said as she threaded her arm through Elin's. "Come on. Let's get our suits. Sadie's right — it's kind of perfect weather for swimming."

The girls headed up. Elin even went so far as to poke her head in on her brother to see if he could join them, but he was already passed out sleeping, so that was a no-go right away. But as for the rest of the house, a pool party seemed like the perfect idea. The Lee twins as well as Sying and Penny and Gerry all ended up down at the pool, and, of course, the half-Kree and the Elves were the fastest ones there, with Ael arriving on Sying's shoulders — not about to miss out on time in the water.

But Elin showed up alone — and no one had seen Sadie yet. "She probably went to see if one of the new boys staying the summer wanted to swim," she said with a shrug.

"Bet she's _kissing _'em!" Kade sang out with a wicked giggle from where he was splashing around with Ael and Malin.

"Entirely possible," Elin agreed as she took one of the lounge chairs near the pool as their little gathering got going.

"You know, I could turn up the lights and you'll only be tan for a second," Gerry said as he sat down next to her with a smirk.

"You could …" Elin agreed, smirking up at him. "What about you? Are you pining?"

"For who, exactly?" Gerry laughed, his hands behind his head as he relaxed. "I'm not dating anyone."

"I don't know, gotta be someone cute, right? I mean … all the _dating advice _you've been handing out should come from the voice of experience and not just theory."

Gerry chuckled. "Hey, I've dated around plenty, I just… haven't found someone I want to be serious with," he said. "Besides, I've got plenty of secondhand. My dad is, like, the walking encyclopedia of 'learn from my mistakes' on that front."

She smiled at him and nodded. "Everyone is too serious about this stuff."

"But not you, of course," Gerry said, one eyebrow raised her way.

"No reason to be," she replied. "We're in high school. No one should be getting engaged."

"Yeah, had to talk Krissy out of planning her whole life," Gerry chuckled. "She gets so…"

"Which is really funny since she can't stick to a plan anyhow," Elin said.

"Yeah, well, I'm looking out for her, I promise," Gerry said, leaning a little further back.

"Good," Elin told him with a sigh. "She doesn't listen to me very well."

"Oh, so I shouldn't read too much into the hundred and four times I've heard 'you sound like Elin' from her."

"Yeah, I'd ignore that," she agreed.

"Really, 'cause I've been taking it as a compliment," Gerry said with a grin.

Elin outright laughed at that. "You're hilarious." She shook her head and turned his way fully. "So. When are you trying out?"

"Oh… well…" Gerry took a deep breath.

"Are you a Chicken Hawk?" Elin asked with wide eyes.

Gerry laughed. "It's just not at the top of my list of priorities," he admitted. "I'm working on college applications, and you know, medical school. Kind of more important to me."

"When James was looking at that stuff, it was a good way for him to get prepped to hit things," she said. "Applications are stupid for most of those smarty pants places."

"Yeah, I've been writing essays for about an age now."

"So … up your training to ease your misery," Elin suggested.

"I just might," he said with a nod, then tipped his head toward where Zoe was making fun of Kaleb, shifting into a version of him that was overly dramatic and kissing _everyone_. "Zoe wants to try out, actually."

"Of course she does. She wants to be like her mom," Krissy said when she joined the two of them.

"She's not serious enough to be Nat," Gerry pointed out, gesturing toward the Kaleb-Zoe, who was still teasing Kaleb before she jumped into a cannonball… which started a whole new contest.

"No, no, we can do one bigger," Melody sang out.

"Prove it!" Kaleb called out to them.

Kaleb had just gotten out of a splashing contest and was grinning at the twins when a sharp whistle spit the air a split second before Sadie darted out and tackled him with a kiss — obviously planning to use the pool for a soft landing spot.

The two of them went flying backward, but they didn't hit the pool. Instead, they ended up in the trees, falling through a couple limbs before they caught themselves, with Kaleb hanging on by his tail upside down and outright laughing delightedly.

Sadie looked shocked for just a second but then started grinning. "Ha! Told you that you needed to be surprised!"

"I am not complaining at _all_!" Kaleb shot back, still grinning and upside down.

She grinned at him for a moment and shook her head. "So … the trees, huh?"

"There was absolutely no thought whatsoever involved in destination," he swore, still grinning at her and not likely to stop anytime soon.

"See, now I don't know if I'm supposed to be insulted or not," she said as she tipped her head back.

Kaleb flipped off of his branch to sit by her and take her hand. "When a pretty girl tackles you and kisses you, you can be forgiven for not being able to think of anything else but the pretty girl," he said, still grinning.

"Alright, _that _is a line that works," she replied, giggling.

He grinned at her and kissed her cheek. "Ah, but now I can't pretend I'm only kissing you to get 'ports."

"Guess you'll need another excuse," she said with a little shrug.

Kaleb offered her his hand. "Want a hand to the ground?"

"I'm game," she agreed.

He grinned, leaned over to kiss her, and then laughed. "Oh, okay, I guess I'll climb," he said, grabbing her hands in both of his and wrapping his tail around the branch they were on to lower her down to the ground with his tail extended — and then dropped down himself.

* * *

While the kids were at the pool, the adults had been doing their own thing. Jubilee and Noh had taken the opportunity to do a little dancing, but before they could progress too far past the close dancing, there was practically a blaring message in Jubilee's head from both of the girls.

_MOM. Kaleb just teleported, and you missed it!_

_Sadie tackled him in the pool!_

_And kissed him!_

_It's THE FAMILY BUSINESS. _

"Oh my God, they're being terrible," Jubilee said to Noh, shaking her head.

"What are they doing this time?" Noh said with a smile, since they had been talking to her and he was still perfectly content wrapping her up.

"Busting out Kaleb and Sadie," she said before she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Apparently, she tackled and kissed him — and he teleported."

Noh let out a laugh of delight. "Of course she did," he said. "The way the two of them have been going on, I can't say that I'm surprised."

"Well … the girls are somehow surprised by this turn of events," she laughed.

"Then, surprisingly, they've remained in their own minds. We should be proud," Noh said with a smile before he kissed her. "We do good work."

"Like _that's _some kind of surprise," Jubilee answered with a giggle.

He grinned and kissed her again. "We should probably do something about this completely unsurprising turn of events."

"Like what?" she asked. "It'd be more fun if they just … I dunno. Got caught by Kate. That seems like the safest option."

"You just want to see Kate rush off to K to inform her that yet another child has her ability-kickstarting powers," Noh teased.

"Yes. Yes, I do, because clearly it's from _her_."

"Oh, of course," Noh agreed, then paused. "Though I believe she and Logan could split the blame for Chloe — she was there for the headaches, but he saw the first optic blast."

"Do _not _try to put him in as any kind of trouble — at least not like that. Eew. No." Jubilee pulled a face. "Her fault for mutation and puberty issues … his fault for the inevitable ninja issues."

Noh nodded along and then kissed her again. "Yes, of course. You're entirely right," he said, then smiled. "So, how can we ensure that Kate is the one to find those two?"

"Hmm," she said, posing as thoughtfully as she could. "Well … you could deliver her?"

"Yes, I could," he said, nodding along. "And you… will just happen to be at the pool. Looking after Ael, of course. I'd hate for you to miss anything."

"Of course," she agreed. "Someone has to be responsible."

He laughed and kissed her again. "You are lovely when you're plotting," he said before he zipped off to go find Kate and simply pick her up from her desk, where she was reading through some business emails, to carry her off to the pool.

"Noh, what the heck?" Kate spluttered when he set her down.

"Believe me: you will thank me later," he said with a crooked smile.

"What…" Kate frowned up at him for a moment before she looked around the pool filled with lounging kids and teenagers. At first, she didn't see anything that would explain why Noh had up and kidnapped her like that, but she finally seemed to realize that some of the younger kids were in fits of giggles — and that her oldest son was nowhere to be seen. And neither was Sadie.

"Oooh, hi, Dad!" Melody sang out, still giggling madly with her sister.

"Mom told you, huh?" Celeste giggled right beside her.

"You know what, I'm not even sure I want to know at this point," Kate said. "What did they do now?"

"Oh, nothing out of the usual," Sying said. "You know, mostly."

Kate shook her head at him and then looked past the kids to where Kaleb and Sadie were finally emerging from the trees, grinning and giggling with each other. Kate was sure Kaleb had been flirting with her — he hadn't stopped doing that since he had learned how to walk, really… or even before that — but what they were doing that far past the rest of the kids was clearly the point of concern here.

"Kaleb William Wagner," Kate called out — and the boy froze for all of a second before he disappeared in a poof of blue, which absolutely clinched it for her. She shook her head. "Oh no. You come back here right now," she said, stalking toward where she'd seen the blue smoke further out in the trees.

Sadie didn't seem bothered in the least as she simply continued walking up toward Kate. "Hello," she said cheerfully with a little wave.

"Sadie, you are too young to be sending boys into puberty, you know that right?" Kate said almost over her shoulder, but her gaze was locked onto Kaleb, who was unsuccessfully hiding behind a tree.

"What are you _talking _about?" she asked with her nose scrunched up.

"I know you kissed him to get him to 'port," Kate said, crooking her finger at Kaleb to tell him to come over.

"Um … I kissed him to kiss him," she said. "He was the one that wanted to 'port."

"Kaleb," Kate said one more time in a warning tone before he finally made his way over with a small smile.

"It worked, Mama, see?" he offered with a smile that looked _just _like Kurt and had Kate barely restraining the groan.

"Oh, your father is in so much trouble," Kate said. "Come on. You need to talk to someone."

Kaleb's tail was drooping behind him as he followed Kate inside, and she took him straight to the Howletts' suite to knock on the door. "Logan, K, I need both of you."

"Door's open," Logan called out.

Kate gestured for Kaleb to lead the way in, and the two of them peeked inside to where Logan and K were contentedly curled up together. "My son teleported today," she said, first and foremost.

"Alright," Logan said with a nod. "Sounds more like Kurt's specialty to me."

"Kaleb, why don't you tell the nice Wolverine how you teleported?" Kate said, looking down at her little boy.

Kaleb looked a bit wide-eyed at hertone before he said, quietly, "Uh… Sadie tackled me in the pool…."

"With a kiss," Kate clarified, just so there was no misunderstanding. She broke into an impish grin K's way. "That's _two_ of my kids on you."

Logan closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose as K rolled her eyes at Kate. "Um … not on me. Stop that," K said, shaking her head.

"I'll talk to her," Logan said, looking almost weary at the idea.

"Completely unapologetic," Kate said, grinning wider K's way. "Totally on you."

"Oh, I'm sure," Logan said. "On both counts."

"Don't think he's getting off easy. He has to tell Kurt _exactly _what happened," Kate promised.

"Yeah, I was gonna say," Logan replied. "You deal with yours … I'll deal with mine."

"Just thought you'd like to know," Kate said cheerfully, as Kaleb looked a bit confused as to whether or not he was in trouble. "It's genetic."

"It is _not_," K argued with a growl. "If it was, it wouldn't be just kids that were close to ours, so stop."

Kate laughed and pulled Kaleb along by his shoulder. "If that's what you have to tell yourself to keep up the denial…."

"I want to hear how this works out with Kurt," K called out to her. "Seeing as your tiny Elf is _using _my daughter to teleport."

"I wasn't… _using_ her…" Kaleb said with a little frown, the first time he'd really spoken up. "I wanted to kiss her anyway… It was just a silly excuse."

"So you needed an excuse?" K asked, totally to rile up Kate, though that obviously just wasn't gonna happen. Especially when Kate had heard Sadie saying the same thing as Kaleb anyhow.

"Not really…" Kaleb said. "It was just funny."

By that time, Logan had gotten to his feet and was headed out to find Sadie, and when he passed the two Wagners, he was sure to pop Kaleb in the back of the head and give Kate a little shove. "You're both trouble."

Kaleb rubbed the back of his head with a pout, but Kate just responded by singing out, "Also genetic!"

"Then we're all in trouble," Logan called back.

"We knew that already, though," Kate laughed, finally steering Kaleb out to go find Kurt and tell him exactly how his eldest son had his first teleport.

They found Kurt at the dugout playing baseball with the bamfs, and Kate kept a hand on Kaleb's shoulder the entire time as they waited for the games to come to an end abruptly when Kurt saw the two of them and teleported over. "_Was is los?_"

"Your son," Kate said. "Got his powers. Through the power. Of flirting."

Kurt tried and failed to look surprised as he took the two of them in before he couldn't help but tease Kate. "Oh, he's _my _son?"

"Yes. Clearly." Kate gestured to all of Kurt and then to Kaleb. "Tailor-made, I swear to you. He's been kissing girls for _ages _trying to teleport, which — whatever. As long as the girls are okay with it, he shouldn't be doing it, but whatever, that's not the point. The point is that Sadie _ran _with the idea and tackle-kissed him into a teleport."

Kurt was having a hard time looking stern when the smile kept threatening to break loose — though his swaying tail was completely giving away his amusement — but it was when Kaleb muttered, "It wasn't _just _to teleport," that he simply couldn't stop the smile at the situation.

"Oh, wipe that smile off. It was different when it was Kari, you… _boy_," Kate sniped at him half-heartedly, though she was still too entertained to do it properly.

"Yes … this is quite serious," Kurt said, still trying to keep it from a full-blown grin.

Kate raised an eyebrow at Kurt and then smiled wickedly. "Oh, I see. Well, if we're encouraging pursuing sweet little kids, then I'll just tell Krissy she can go to Europe in the fall."

Kurt's amused look seemed to dry up completely. "I didn't know we were considering moving that seriously," he shot back.

"What? And separate Kaleb from the _pretty little girl_ he kissed?" Kate countered, one eyebrow arched high.

Kurt held her gaze for a long moment and finally tipped his chin up. "If that's what it takes to get him to behave …"

Kate grinned outright. "I knew you'd see things my way," she said before she popped up on her toes and kissed his cheek and then looked down at Kaleb. "And you, mister — _stop it_. You're too young for that nonsense."

"Yes, Mama," Kaleb said, nodding along quietly.

Kate held his gaze for a long moment before she finally let out a breath and turned back to Kurt to put a finger in the center of his chest. "Your fault," she said before she tossed her hair and strode off — she did actually have work to get back to.

Kaleb looked back over his shoulder for a moment before he took a deep breath. "Yeah, but it _worked_," he told Kurt.

Kurt held his serious expression for all of five seconds before the grin won out. "I'm sure it did. What happened?"

Kaleb broke into a little smile himself. "Sadie said I had it wrong, that I needed to be surprised by a kiss instead of kissing girls. So… she tackled me — and _poof! _Right into the trees." He looked a bit sheepish. "I didn't… mean to go to the trees."

"That's something we'll need to work on," Kurt agreed. "And Sadie?"

"She…" Kaleb grinned. "She said she didn't need the excuse."

Kurt almost scoffed. "Of course she doesn't."

Kaleb grinned a little wider. "Well… she's really pretty, too."

Kurt nodded along with him, almost chuckling to himself. "Has your mother punished you for recklessness?"

"I… thought… that was why we came here..."

"Ah," Kurt said, narrowing his eyes as he thought it over. "She's going to expect you to be grounded."

"I guess so," Kaleb said.

Kurt looked thoughtful for a long time. "Perhaps we should decide how often we need to work on your teleportation first. The kind that doesn't _require _a pretty girl."

"That's not as much fun though," Kaleb said with a little smile.

Kurt chuckled at that and shook his head. "No, but still... " He drew in a deep breath and let it out in a woosh. "Every afternoon, we'll work on it. And … Let's say three weeks for the grounding."

"Three weeks?"

"Yes, that's how long Kari was grounded for the same stunt … more or less," Kurt said.

Kaleb looked up at Kurt for a long time before he finally smirked a bit. "Worth it," he decided.

"Yes, well, I'm sure your mother will be amused by the sentiment," Kurt replied.

"I think so," Kaleb agreed before he looked across the lawn toward where the pool was. "Can I… go swim… or am I grounded from that too?"

Kurt grinned. "Nowhere without adult supervision."

"Oh, okay, Jubilee was there," Kaleb said, breaking into a grin of his own before he hugged Kurt and took off running.

Kurt shook his head at the boy running off before he went back to the baseball game with the bamfs — though when Kate came out of the office again to come find him, she was sure to kiss him when she saw him. "Did you talk to him?"

"Of course," Kurt said, shaking his head at her. "We'll be working on his teleporting every afternoon."

"And he's grounded."

"Yes, for three weeks."

Kate broke into a wide smile at that and nodded before stepping into him and wrapping her arms around his neck. "I guess that means you and I have some quiet time to fill," she said. "I like this plan."

Kurt couldn't help but grin at her. "You are trouble," he said.

"Like you'd have it any other way," she shot back, grinning, before she simply wrapped him into a passionate kiss that lasted long after he teleported them to privacy.


	14. Not Like Your Mother

**Chapter 14: "Not Like Your Mother"**

_Krissy,_

_Oh man, I leave for a few months and everything exciting happens without me! _

_I can totally believe what happened with Kaleb and Sadie, though. I mean, you're a terrible flirt, Kris, but your brother is next-level ridiculous, and we all know it. Makes perfect sense._

_We're almost done with our cruise of the Mediterranean, and then we're going to spend some time in France. I'm sending plenty of pictures, as usual. The one of my dad looking totally unamused is when one of the other people on the cruise said it was sweet of him to take his grandkids out. Ha! Mom thought it was hilarious._

_It's still kind of weird taking pictures of my blonde family but, you know, I'm getting used to it._

_How are things going with the quest to get your parents to let you come out to Europe? I ask because, well… this is the first time in a long time that we're not coming home every weekend, and email just isn't the same. I miss actually going out with you._

_You know I'd come home to Westchester in a second if I could. I just feel bad. It's not really… fair. _

_But hey, I'm having a blast with my family. I think this has been really good for Mom and Dad. Mom hasn't been this attached to us in a long time; I'm pretty sure she was going through withdrawals. And that had me thinking too about how much I wish this whole hiding thing wasn't necessary. I know it's killing my parents. _

_Sorry. That's kind of heavy for an email filled with pictures of us playing in the waves. I swear we're having a blast! But hey, if I can't talk about this stuff with my girlfriend, then I'm totally doing it wrong._

_Miss you,_

_~Chance_

Chance looked up from his phone after he sent off the email and couldn't help but grin when he was just in time to see Chloe and Cody team up on their dad to knock him backwards in the pool. Scott was grinning widely when he came back up, tackling Cody first as the water fight continued — with Annie cheering from the sidelines.

Charlie, meanwhile, was laid out next to him on one of the deck chairs, getting an actual tan instead of the inducer-imaged one. He wondered how dark she was now, though he wouldn't be able to see while they were out in public and anywhere near security cameras.

"Emailing Krissy?" Charlie asked without opening her eyes.

Chance grinned her way. "What gave me away?"

"You miss her," Charlie said simply. "Have you told her that?"

"I thought you said you weren't going to get involved in relationships, Charlie."

His sister picked her head up a bit and then raised one eyebrow at him. "If you _need _me to prompt you to tell her you like her, then you need more help than even I can give."

He laughed outright. "I do tell her."

"Good." Charlie sat back and closed her eyes again. "I'm glad that you have someone that makes you happy."

"That's sort of the whole point of dating, Charlie."

"You'd be surprised. Some people are miserable and don't even like the people they stay with," Charlie said.

"Not me."

"No, of course not." Charlie smirked a bit. "You love being in love."

"You should try it sometime."

"I'll let you know if I find someone," Charlie promised. "But you have to admit: it's harder for me. It feels like the older we get, the more boys are more interested in lust than love."

"And you can tell the difference," Chance said, nodding. "So, who do I need to hit?"

Charlie smirked his way. "You're a good brother, you know that?"

"Hey, what kind of person would I be if I didn't look out for my own twin?"

"A horrible, horrible person, obviously," she laughed.

"See? That's why I look out for you," Chance said before he slipped his phone into the bag by Charlie. "You want to go on the water slide?"

"No, I'm fine, thanks," Charlie said. She had been content to sit out on the deck for most of the cruise, because the whole top deck was filled with families having fun. It was like a buffet of happy for her to constantly skim off of, and Chance hadn't seen his sister in such a good mood in _ages_. So he wasn't about to mess with it.

"Alright, but I'm taking Chloe."

"Good. She loves that thing."

Chance smirked her way before he headed off to the pool. "Chloe, you wanna ride the waterslide?"

"Like you even have to ask!" was the enthusiastic response, which just had Chance laughing as his sister climbed out of the pool and they raced to where the line was, grinning the whole time.

* * *

The Lee twins' birthday meant another party — and seeing as they had _finally _gotten out of the doghouse with their parents and grandparents, they were clearly enjoying themselves.

And they also clearly hadn't entirely learned their lesson, either, because when they overheard Zoe and Gerry talking about when either of them would go out for the team — with Zoe clearly excited about it and Gerry still hesitant — they simply scooted over to join them.

"You know," Melody said, "you could go out for the team together."

"I'm really not ready yet," Gerry said, shaking his head at the girls.

"You totally are," Celeste said, grinning. "And the teachers think so too."

Gerry shot them both a look. "Don't do that."

"It's true, though," Melody said, leaning forward with a sparkle in her gaze. "Hank thinks you'd be 'a great help' — his words."

"He's not as white-haired as Scott, but he _is _getting tired," Celeste agreed.

"You realize you're both going to get in trouble if you keep doing that, right?" Gerry said, gesturing between the two of them.

"Hey, we're talking out loud," Melody pointed out.

"That is _so _not the point," Gerry said. "And I'm pretty sure you're still on the _same _page." He raised an eyebrow their way.

"See?" Melody grinned at him. "You're totally ready for the team."

Gerry shook his head at her, but whatever he was going to say was drowned out by Zoe leaning forward with a crooked grin. "What about me?"

The twins glanced at each other. _Should we tell her? _Melody asked.

_Will she listen to us?_

_This is a good point._

_Besides, _Celeste reasoned, _Scott's gone, so it would be Logan. _

_And we still can't read him._

_So…_

Melody nodded and turned back to Zoe. "You know, we really don't know."

"Oh come on! I'm _amazing_!" Zoe said, drawing herself up and tossing her hair over her shoulder.

"No one's arguing that," Melody assured her.

"It's just that we can't read Logan," Celeste explained.

"And even non-telepaths aren't going to get an answer out of him on that anyway," Melody added.

"But you told Gerry—"

"He's, like, almost eighteen and trained with Kitty at her school on self-defense for years before he came here," Celeste pointed out.

"I've been an archer since I was, like, three," Zoe said. "I've been able to use Widow's Bites since age eight."

"So tell that to Logan," Melody said.

Zoe narrowed her eyes at both of them before she stuck her nose in the air. "Don't think I won't," she said before flouncing off.

Gerry shook his head after his half-sister. "You shouldn't do that."

"We weren't going to _lie _to her," Melody said, sounding insulted.

"Yeah, but consider this: you could just _not_."

Both of the girls made matching noises of disbelief at that. "We're just trying to _help_," Celeste said.

"Yeah, we're not just keeping it to ourselves."

"It's not a game."

"We're just giving you both a little push."

"Which you _clearly _need," Celeste added, shoving Gerry in the shoulder. "Come on. Tyler was on the team while he was in medical school. You can do it too."

"I don't _need_-"

"You really kind of do," Melody said.

Gerry rolled his eyes at them both. "Seriously. You're going to get in trouble."

"But you'll go out for the team?"

"...Fine."

The twins grinned at him in tandem. "You're going to love it," Melody promised.

Gerry laughed. "Yeah, yeah. _Try _and stay out of trouble, would you? I can't help you _and _Krissy _and _apply for college _and _go out for the team."

"We can help Kri-"

"_NO_." Gerry shook his head at both of them.

The girls giggled and then kissed Gerry on both cheeks from opposite sides. "Offer's open," Celeste said.

Gerry smirked and then smacked both of them upside the back of the head. "You should really take a cue from Lottie and stay. Out. of. It."

The girls glanced at each other and obviously took a long moment to have a silent conversation between themselves before they finally nodded. "If you say so," Melody said.

Gerry raised an eyebrow at both of them and then shook his head. "You're both ridiculous," he decided, though he ruffled both of their hair and then headed off to go plot with Krissy.

* * *

Zoe found Logan in the garage working on his bike and leaned against the doorway, crossed her arms, and smiled at him. "Can I talk to you?"

"No reason you can't that I can think of," Logan muttered, half distracted as he fiddled with his bike.

"No, I mean, _talk _to you. Like, officially," Zoe said.

He glanced up at her and let out a breath. "Do you need an invitation to make if official?"

"I was just thinking maybe, you know, someplace official so it's not like I'm talking to my uncle?" Zoe said.

He stared at her for a moment before he closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath slowly as he shook his head. "What's this about?"

"I wanna talk to you as the interim team leader," Zoe said.

"Oh," Logan said, nodding once before he straightened up a little. "And this needs to happen …. Where?"

"Maybe your office?" Zoe said.

"Right." He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. "We can do this right here, Zo."

Zoe shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "I … um." She glanced toward James, who was still doing chores, and bit her lip. "Can we at least go somewhere private?"

At that, Logan finally nodded and got to his feet before he gestured toward the door. "Sure. If it'll make you stop squirmin'."

Zoe nodded and led the way, though as soon as they were at his office, she only waited long enough for the door to close before she said, "So, I'm thirteen. I want to join the team."

Logan seemed to agree to that as he took a seat and leaned back in his chair. "Yeah, I hear that a lot. What makes you think you're ready?"

"Well, I've got a pretty good handle on my powers, and I've known how to use pretty much any weapon you can put in front of me since I was little — Mom's a little paranoid."

"That doesn't really mean anything."

"Well, what else do you want? I can fight; I've been taking all the classes," she pointed out.

"Not all there is to it," Logan said, shaking his head. "You'd have to talk to Scott, 'Ro, and Kitty first, but let me save you the trouble. You're not ready."

"What are you talking about?" Zoe scrunched up her nose.

"I mean you're not ready. You're spendin' all your time screwin' around and bein' a little punk. Which is fine. Kind of expect it at your age. But you're not ready to step it up to join the team yet."

"I'm not the only one with a sense of humor, you know," Zoe insisted. "What about Krissy? Or James, even?"

"James isn't even considering the team right now and he's got you beat for seriousness," Logan pointed out. "And Krissy had a hell of a time — and is still struggling with some parts of it. You … _not them,_ not anyone else — _you _aren't ready."

Zoe looked totally taken aback as she stared at him. "But… but I am!"

"Sweetheart, I trained with your mom when she was half your age. She was ready walking in. You might look like her, but you're not her. And you're not ready. Feel free to schedule with Scott and the others, but I won't even consider it until I can see it's time."

Zoe stared at him for a longer moment and then sniffed. "So are you going to be this much of a pain for Gerry too?"

"Gerry's more ready than he thinks. You're not."

"This is just… so wrong. Mom was doing this when she was a kid."

"Yeah, and you're not her," Logan told her.

"Dad was stealing stuff at my age too," she pointed out.

"If you want to be a criminal and a corn dog jockey, you're probably ready, but you're not ready to join the team. Anything else you wanna talk about?"

Zoe stared at him for a second before she finally shook her head. "No…" She glared at him a bit before she got to her feet and let herself out, looking incredibly put out with the whole thing.

She was still in a bad mood when she got home, though Nikolas thankfully didn't bring it up. Her parents both noticed, though, and Clint and Natasha had a short nonverbal conversation right there at the dinner table — Clint inclining his head toward Zoe and Natasha raising an eyebrow before she nodded — to determine who was going to talk to her.

So, Natasha pulled Zoe aside after dinner with that same raised eyebrow expression as before. "What's wrong?" she asked, not bothering to dance around it. "You're never this quiet."

Zoe crossed her arms and tried to just play it off, but she ended up finally letting out a breath and nodding. "Logan said I wasn't ready to join the team," she muttered with an obvious scowl.

"And you think you know better than he does?" Natasha said with one eyebrow raised.

"I think I know how to fight, shoot, and shift. What more is there to know?"

"How to handle the pressure, for one."

"I'm not a shrinking violet, Mom. I never have been."

"Maybe not," Natasha agreed. "But you've never been put in the kinds of situations that you would face on a team either."

"So, what, I need to be kidnapped like Gerry before anyone takes me seriously?" she pouted.

"No," Natasha was shaking her head lightly. "That's not it at all."

"Then I don't understand," Zoe said. "I know how to fight!"

"Yes, but not when the stakes are high. It's not a game, or a rite of passage."

Zoe frowned up at her mom. "Okay, but wouldn't being _on the team _teach me about high stakes? Kind of a catch twenty-two, don't you think?"

"The hard way," she agreed. "And it would probably scar you - which is why Logan said you're not ready."

"Then what am I supposed to do?" Zoe pouted.

"Toughen up."

"How?" Zoe asked.

"See? If you were ready, you wouldn't have to ask."

Zoe tipped her head back and let out a noise of frustration. "I don't get it. _Dad's _a goofball, and you don't tell _him _to toughen up."

"I was very careful to make sure that you didn't get trained like I did. And that you got the chance to have a childhood. I didn't _want _you to turn into me, but if you want to learn … I could _start _training you. And you can ask Logan for extra help."

"Start?" Zoe raised both of her eyebrows. "Then what was all the self-defense and archery for?"

"Self defense and archery. Protection and fun."

Zoe frowned up at Natasha for a long moment before she finally nodded. "Okay. I want to learn."

"Me too," Nikolas said, and Zoe's head came up in surprise, since she absolutely hadn't noticed her brother there before. He smirked her way for a moment and then waved with the tips of his fingers. "Hey, might as well learn from my big sister's mistakes and get it done early, right?"

"We can start tomorrow, then," Natasha said with a nod.


	15. Day Off

**Chapter 15: "Day Off"**

Kari had noticed James was _still _working on the fence project from earlier in the day, and when he was out there well past lunchtime, she decided that he needed _at least _some water. Especially because he was so exhausted all the time from the work his parents were having him do that he was actually tanning … with his white t-shirt hanging from the back pocket of his jeans as he worked. It really was a mark of how run-down he was and how stretched his healing was from him not taking care of himself while he was working so hard.

Kari grabbed a pitcher full of K's freshly-made lemonade as well as two glasses before she teleported over to where James was working with a smile. "Okay, you should maybe take a break before you fall over."

"I just wanna get in a couple more posts," James replied.

Kari frowned at him before she teleported even closer and pushed the glass into his chest. "Uh-huh. Let me rephrase. Take a break so I don't have to carry you back."

He gave her a look, though it was clear once he'd stopped for a moment that he was out of breath. "What time is it?"

"Three. You missed lunch by a pretty wide margin." She smirked at him. "You missed the show. I think Krissy's pretty close to convincing Mama to let her go to Europe, and Papa is so, _so _betrayed."

"How romantic," James deadpanned as he pulled off his gloves and headed for the nearest tree.

Kari laughed at that. "Yeah… Gerry's been helping her make a more solid plan than just 'because Chance is there'. Now, it's more about getting out on her own and learning to be her own person. Which… is pretty good. She needs that."

"Yeah, chasing the boyfriend is a crap excuse. She's gotta know that." He leaned back against the tree and slid down to the ground. "Three? Really?"

"Aren't you so glad I came over here to reintroduce you to reality?" Kari smirked.

"I dunno; it's kinda nice just being alone and not having anything pressing to think about but getting the line straight."

"Yeah, but I think we'd all appreciate it if you didn't totally pass out on us," Kari pointed out.

"I doubt anyone would notice. It's almost like I don't live here right now."

Kari rolled her eyes and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "I swear, you say things like that just to get a rise out of me for calling me 'nobody'."

"I didn't call _you _'nobody'," he defended. "I meant it in the larger view."

"You said no one would notice, and yet, here I am, with lemonade, and I should be so offended, James. I really should."

He shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first time."

She rolled her eyes and refilled his glass. "Uh-huh."

"Anything else happening in the world at large that I should know about?" James asked. "Since … you know. No computer."

"Well, the Summers clan still looks weird blonde," Kari said. "But the grins get wider every picture, so… that's good. Chloe missed her family." She leaned back against the tree. "Zoe's pouting because your dad said she couldn't join the team, but Nikki said they got some personal training with their mom, who's the _Black Widow_, and Mama says that's perfect."

"So she's trying to guilt trip my dad with the pouting," James guessed before he tipped his glass back, not realizing until just then how overheated he was.

"Maybe. But it looks genuine. I mean, she's not as dramatic as we are — elflings, I mean," Kari said with a small smile.

"No one is dramatic as you guys," James said, setting the glass down as soon as it was empty.

Kari refilled it again for him. "Um… Sying and Penny are still sickeningly cute…"

"It's okay, Kari … I don't really need a rundown. I'm okay with quiet too. You don't have to reach for something if there's nothing to say."

"I was just trying to think if anything else had happened that you missed," Kari said. "I mean… you probably know the twins are grounded _again,_ since… morning runs."

"Yeah, I was there for that. I'm doing them too. Only Dad and I start at five."

Kari nodded. "You're both insane," she agreed. She leaned back a bit and watched James for a second before she said, slowly, "And… Harry asked me out."

"So … where are you going?" he asked.

"Smoothies and a movie," she said.

"Sounds like an alright time."

"Well, it's just for fun, I think," Kari said. "I'm not like Krissy. I don't really… know about all this dating nonsense."

"You never know," he said with a shrug. "And smart money is just … generally to _not._ All around. Too bad no one is smart."

"Yeah, well, it's more fun to be stupid," Kari said with a smile. "I don't want a _boyfriend_, but _dating _is fun."

"Yeah, I think …" He let out a sigh. "I'm not sure I want to go back to Stark in the fall."

"Really?" Kari asked with one eyebrow raised. "Why not?"

"Mostly because I don't do anything that's been very useful. Little improvements here and there and a lot of coding, but so far, everything I've made on my own has gotten me into trouble. So …"

Kari frowned at him for a moment. "Okay, I hear you," she said. "But… really?"

"I mean, it's not Ultron level stupid, but it _could _be."

"You're too smart for that," she assured him.

"Yeah, I'm not so sure about that."

Kari watched him for a second before she made sure to kiss his cheek again. "I think you can do amazing things," she said. "And for as mad as Charlie was, I promise, she's _excited _about Amy. You can read it in her emails."

"It's not about how mad Charlie was." He shook his head again. "Doesn't matter. I handed it over to Hank."

"Just to _finish_," Kari pointed out. "It was so, _so _stupid what you did, but… the project as a whole?"

"No, I handed it all over."

"But it's such a good idea!" Kari stared at him. "Don't you want to see it through?"

"I … think that he'd do a better job," James said slowly.

"You should at least work with him," Kari said. "You _made _it."

James frowned and shook his head lightly. "Off of his specs. It's his."

Kari frowned at him and then put her head on his shoulder. "If you want to take a break, that's fine," she said. "But I hate to see you give up. That's not very… you."

"I think I just picked the wrong things to do, that's all. Maybe some other lab or group or something."

Kari nodded. "Alright. I just don't want you to give up."

"What do you think I'm giving up on?" James turned her way and watched her as she pulled her answer together.

"I think you're a total genius," she said, meeting his gaze. "And I think you could do amazing things with the team, with Tony Stark… even with the whole… debacle with Amy, I still think it's a brilliant invention." She tipped her head to the side. "You're my best friend, and I want you to be able to be amazing."

"So now wouldn't be the time to break the news that I'm going to just go be a mechanic or something then, right?"

Kari laughed. "Yeah, that would be a big fat 'no'."

"Carpenter?"

"Mmm, no," Kari said, though she was really starting to laugh now..

"Guess I'll just stick with 'stable hand' then."

"And get used to all the girls in the school staring at you. Yes, I think that's acceptable," Kari teased.

He burst out laughing at that. "And you think _I'm _overheated? I think you fried your brain."

Kari grinned. "Hey, I don't know if you know this, but you're actually very cute."

He pushed the glass back toward her as he shook his head 'no'. "I think you're low on sugar or something, because that's just nonsense."

"Would I lie to you?" Kari shot back.

"Intentionally, no, probably not. But if you're like … severely dehydrated or … I don't know. Too much banana bread ... maybe."

"Annie's not even here. I'm banana bread-free," Kari laughed. "And hey, I'm an artist. I know when things and people are aesthetically pleasing. You, my friend, are just that."

He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "And you're too kind. You said the same thing about a set of artistically-placed boxing gloves. Context."

"Learn to take a compliment, James," she teased.

He shook his head as he got back to his feet. "Nope, nuh-uh, not gonna happen. I happen to know for a fact that I didn't get that gene."

Kari just laughed at him and picked up the empty pitcher. "Want me to come let you know when dinner is? Because you might forget."

"Dad'll get me if I go for too long," he told her with a little self-deprecating smile.

Kari smiled at him. "Okay; if you say so."

* * *

"I think we should let Krissy go to Europe."

Kurt didn't even glance up from the book he was reading. "Whatever it is that Kaleb has done, you've already used up that bluff, love."

Kate chuckled to herself before she climbed into the space beside Kurt and slid her hand up his chest until she found his face to turn him her way and steal a long and involved kiss. "It's not a bluff."

That got Kurt to raise his eyebrows as he turned her way and put down the book. "You can't be serious."

"I am."

Kurt pressed a hand to her forehead. "Are you sure you're feeling well?" he asked, patting her head. "Maybe you should stay out of the sun."

Kate laughed and pushed away his hand. "I've just been thinking about it, and I think it could be good for her."

"We are talking about our oldest daughter, _ja_? The same girl who had to be rescued from the Atlantic for running after Chance?"

Kate smiled up at Kurt impishly. "I didn't say I thought we should let her go _for Chance_."

Kurt frowned at her as his tail snaked up her leg and wrapped around her. "I think you've lost me, _Vögelchen_."

Kate brushed his hair back from his face a bit, smiling over the slight gray in the strands between her fingers. "We're trying to teach her how to be on her own," she explained. "And how to accept the consequences of her choices."

"Yes," Kurt said, nodding slowly and not quite sure where Kate was going with this.

"So." Kate straightened up and let out a breath. "We let her go — but with stipulations. She has to stay the whole year — regardless of who she's dating."

Kurt tipped his head to the side and started to smile. "Yes, that would be good."

"I don't think they're going to last," Kate said, which got a wider smile out of Kurt that he tried to hide. "But that's not the point. I want her to have to _stick _to something. And I want her to learn how to be on her own." She shook her head. "We've bailed her out of everything. Don't get me wrong. I'm _glad _that our kids have a _way _better family than either of us did. But she needs to be able to get along as her own person."

"And you think Europe is the best option," Kurt said.

"I think it takes care of a whole lot of different aspects of letting her grow up at once," Kate said. "And you know — you _know _— Moira isn't going to let her get away with anything. Much safer than if she had to learn this later, as an adult."

Kurt considered her for a long time with his head tipped to the side. "You've certainly given this a lot of thought."

Kate smiled and kissed him. "I know you don't like it, but our little girl is a teenager now. And she could do a lot worse than a trip to Europe under the supervision of your old team with a Summers boy who learned how to be a gentleman from _Annie_."

Kurt let out a breath. "This is true," he had to admit.

Kate kissed him again. "If it makes you feel any better," she said, "you don't look older to me at all."

"And you only look lovelier every day," he said, shaking his head at her before he kissed her right back.

* * *

It was just a little past six A.M., and James was with his father in the woods. The two of them had run for over an hour, and when they got to the tall, rocky outcropping deep in the woods, they'd stopped to do the second part of what had become their morning routine. The meditative tai-chi had morphed into a light lesson — though no words were spoken between them as they practiced. When James finally mastered a new combination, Logan gave him a few moments to catch his breath before the two of them started to run again — this time back toward the house.

But this was the first time all summer that Logan had started to chat with him as they headed back. "Hank says the little doo-hickey you made for Charlie's ready to use."

"That's good to know," James said, bristling at the mention of the device. Not once all summer had Logan or K mentioned it after they'd chewed him out properly for it, though they had kept him away from more work on the thing.

"They're gonna want you to help adjust it."

"That's too bad, then," James said, shaking his head. And that was it. Just like that, Logan dropped it and left the subject there on the running trail. James let out a little breath when he realized that his father wasn't going to push him into it. And he slowly started to relax, wondering if it was a good thing or a bad thing — and realizing that it was entirely possible that having nothing to really think about all summer may have been the best thing for him.

The two of them kept up their run, and when they finally got back to the trailhead that opened up at the lawn, James steeled himself for whatever God-awful chore list that he had to finish up, confused when his father simply started to stretch on his way up to the house.

"Hey," James called out before he jogged to catch up. "What am I doing today?"

Logan shrugged. "You've got about two, three days maybe before classes start back up. How about you spend 'em relaxin'?"

James stopped dead in his tracks, obviously not prepared to hear that, of all things. But as his father headed up to the house, James turned to look back toward the forest. After he started to walk across the lawn, he found a spot with soft grass under one of the bigger trees littering the lawn and simply dropped down to lie on the grass.

He was tired, and his entire body was buzzing, still. He had to wonder for a moment if his father wasn't giving him a day to recuperate just so he could really hammer him when classes started up freshly. He wouldn't put it past him. But he _did _tell him to relax. So James took a moment, stretched out, then laid down on his stomach, using his arms crossed under him for a pillow.

He didn't know how long he'd been there before he heard a muted _bamf _some ways off, but it wasn't enough to alarm him into stirring. Not when he was that comfortable.

"Oh my gosh, have you been taking lessons from the twins in how to pull off repeat groundings?" Kari said as she sat down beside him.

James didn't even open his eyes as he replied in a sleepy tone, "Dad told me to relax."

Kari blinked at him. "Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Huh." Kari tipped her head to the side before she simply lay down next to him with her hands behind her head. "Bout time."

He finally cracked an eye open to look over at her. "You're ridiculous."

"I'm an Elf."

"I totally earned what I got," he said.

She turned her head to look at him. "But now you've learned from it, right? So…"

"Which part are you worried about me repeating?" he asked as he rolled onto his side and propped his head up with one hand.

"The part where you end up totally exhausted all summer and I miss my best friend," Kari said. She rolled over to match his posture with a smile.

"Are you saying I wrecked your summer?" He smirked. "Because I'm pretty sure you've been having fun anyhow."

She grinned. "I have been. Harry and I are going out again. But you asked me what part I didn't want repeated—"

"Did he kiss you yet?"

"... almost," Kari admitted with a little blush.

He shook his head. "Not good enough. Lazy."

"Blame Kade. He totally busted us," Kari said, rolling her eyes and flopping back onto the grass. "I hereby appoint you tiny demon wrangler to prevent that ever happening again."

"That was rude of him," he said. "But I'm … not going to be around all the time to handle your little brother for you."

"So you decided what you want to do?"

"No. But … I do have a healthy sense of irony, so …" He drew in a deep breath and started to smile a little wider. "I'm going to spend some time with Dr. Banner."

Kari burst out laughing. "I love you. So much. Oh my gosh."

"I figure for as anxious as Tony's getting, if I want to get away from him for a while, I'll need to go to someone that he won't really want to tick off, and Richards is a pushover."

"He totally is," Kari agreed. She grinned. "Do you think I could come visit sometime? I think I want to paint the two of you working together. Call it 'Irony'."

"Probably," he said with a shrug before he slid back to the ground. "He's fine as long as you don't screw with his stuff."

"I'll just bring an easel and sit in the corner, I promise," Kari said with her hand over her heart. "But it's too good to pass up without capturing it for all time."

"I'll ask him just to make sure. He was a little grumpy about the idea of a bamf staying with me."

"Why?" Kari asked, one eyebrow raised. "You've got the best-behaved one. He actually thinks the lab stuff is cool."

"He's quiet most of the time, yeah. But I think the others made an impression when they tinkered with Tony's suit and tried rearranging Bruce's notes."

"Ah." Kari nodded. "I'd offer to be the stand-in bamf, but I think my papa can only handle one girl spending all day with cute boys," she teased.

"Yeah, I don't want him to have a conniption over nothing," James agreed.

She rolled her eyes at him but made herself more comfortable, stretching out in the grass. "Uh-huh."

"So what are you doing today, then?"

"I only have plans tonight for Harry," she said. "He's in New York with his sister and Strange."

"Learning magic and he can't even conjure you some flowers. _Laziness._"

Kari grinned. "Clearly, he should learn from you how to properly woo Wagners."

He laughed at that. "Right."

"Hey, middle name you've got? You're practically one of us."

"Yeah, you'd think your dad would like me better," James said with his nose scrunched up.

"He loves you; what are you talking about?" Kari said, shaking her head at him.

"He gives me dirty looks half the time," James pointed out.

Kari waved her hand. "My sister is chasing boys, Kaleb is sneaking kisses… he's paranoid. Don't take it personally. Harry gets _way _worse looks."

"If you say so," James said, half snuggling down into the grass again, simply trying to settle in and _not _let anyone think he was trying to _pull anything_.

"Tell you what: take a look when I'm _not _around and you'll see a difference, I promise. He adores you, but he's all…" She scrunched her nose up and drew her shoulders taller. "'You both need to stop growing up so fast'," she said in a deep German accent.

He smiled a little wider her way. "Oh, is that what it is?"

She grinned over at him. "Well, you _are _incredibly cute. Can you blame him?"

"You _really _need your eyes checked. I'm concerned."

"Fine. Don't believe me."

"You are literally the only person that's said that," he said.

At that, Kari looked honestly surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah," he said, laughing. "Who's going to say otherwise? Howard?"

"... good point," Kari said. She shook her head at him. "Well, you won't hear it with Bruce Banner either. At _all_."

"I really hope not," James said. "That would just raise more questions than answers."

"It really would," Kari giggled.

A moment later, there was a muted _bamf _— this time announcing Kurt's arrival as he raised an eyebrow at the two teens laid out in the grass together. "And what are you up to today?"

"Trying not to die," James drawled out. "I've set the bar low."

"Relaxing," Kari explained. "James has the day off."

"Then it would definitely be a good idea to keep from anything that would get you in _trouble_," Kurt agreed with a smirk.

"If I get into trouble, it'll be because it falls on my head," James replied.

"So, you plan to sit out in the sun while you can still tan?" Kurt asked, the smirk widening a bit James' way.

"I'm just avoiding everyone," James answered.

"You've done magnificently," Kurt said.

"James was just saying he's trying to figure out a new lab to go to," Kari explained. "And I was telling him about my date with Harry."

"Don't worry; I'll be out of here in a few days," James said.

Kurt shook his head James' way, though the look he'd been wearing had dropped several notches. "That's a shame. It feels like you have been gone all summer."

"Everyone has," James pointed out. "Lot quieter than usual."

Kurt shook his head. "So, what were you thinking of doing?"

"I've been talking to Dr. Banner." James managed to keep a perfectly straight face this time.

At that, Kurt burst out laughing and rested a hand on James' shoulder to keep himself upright. "_Dies ist perfekt._"

"Hopefully," James agreed. "No one wants to go in his lab."

"And I'm sure there is plenty you can learn," Kurt agreed. He was still smiling before he simply had to shake his head and couldn't hold back the chuckle. "Have you told your father — and if not, can I come?"

"I have, and he's fine with it. He _likes _Bruce," James pointed out.

"Ah, but you will come home every day with a smell, and I wonder if he has thought of this."

"That … is what we need to figure out," James admitted. "How often I'll be back _here_. Might be easier for me to just stay out of everyone's way and stick to the city for a semester."

"You won't be coming back in the afternoons?" Kurt asked, frowning slightly.

"We're talking about it." James shrugged. "Any lessons I get from Dad at this point have to be private anyhow. So it won't really matter when we do them."

"There is more to life than a lab and lessons," Kurt pointed out gently.

"Not really at this point," James countered.

"You should come to dance," Kari suggested. "We need more guys anyway, and you actually _can _dance."

"We'll see. That's all …" He waved his hand. "Details."

"Okay, but now I'm just going to assume you're my dance partner," Kari said perfectly matter-of-factly.

"I'm sure your dance card is already full," James said with a little smirk.

Kari grinned. "Exactly. Nothing like a little flair to make everyone seethe with jealousy."

"You and Harry will look great," James told her, looking perfectly sincere.

Kari shook her head at him. "James… you're an idiot," she said as she got to her feet and then popped up to kiss Kurt on the cheek. "Bye, Papa. I'm going shopping with Krissy and Mama for school," she said, then disappeared in a poof of pink.

Kurt shook his head before he sat down next to James. "I hope you'll decide to be around more," he said.

"I don't know if that's a good idea. I think I irritate everyone enough with limited access," James said.

"_Lächerlich_," Kurt said, shaking his head with a warm smile. "You are simply too wonderful for others to handle, clearly."

"That is a slanted way of agreeing with me," James told him.

Kurt waved a hand. "Ah, but it's true," he said. "I was the same way at your age. Too amazing for anyone else to deal with."

"Then I think it's _kinder _to let them try to catch up."

"And leave those of us who are already perfect?" Kurt asked, putting a hand on his heart.

"Again … let you shine," James replied in a muted tone.

Kurt leaned back and shook his head. "Then let me put it to you this way, James," he said. "You're loved here, and for that reason alone, we like to see you."

"I know," he agreed, nodding. "But … I dunno."

"But nothing," Kurt said. "You are loved. That is the end of it." He got to his feet and offered James a hand up. "Now. I think it's about time you and I had a game of pool."

"Is this one of those 'you're doing it' things, or is it optional?"

"If you're planning to disappear with Bruce Banner for who knows how long, then yes, it's something you're simply going to do. As it is, you've already been unreachable to me all summer." Kurt tipped his head down to catch James' gaze, since the young man was more focused on the ground than anything else. "I think you've spent far too much time alone and outside lately. Come along. I'll order dinner for us while you lose at pool."


	16. Self-Destructive

**Chapter 16: "Self-Destructive"**

It was the last day of their summer vacation, and the Summers clan as a whole wasn't looking forward to having to come back. It had been _amazing _to be together for three straight months. They'd done everything from cruises to skiing in the northern mountains, and even with the tan from the inducers, they'd earned their own.

They had decided to wrap things up in Venice, and the whole family was just eating outside and relaxing when Charlie tipped her head to the side, sure that she could feel something… bad. There was malice… evil intent… coming from the table farther away from them. She felt like it was vaguely familiar, oppressive even, but not in the same song as some of the other bad guys she had faced.

She frowned and glanced at her brothers. Chance had shot up over the summer almost as tall as their dad, and he was so excited to go back to school, to see Krissy again, and to get back to someplace with a shooting range. Cody was taller, too, and had discovered how much he loved skiing. It was the most relaxed she'd seen either of them.

Not to mention her dad. Charlie watched him as he grinned at Annie, holding her hand with her head on his shoulder. They were waiting for dessert and perfectly relaxed, and that was just… not something Charlie had seen her dad do in a long, _long _time.

So she decided that whatever was going on, she'd just peek into it herself. And if she could figure it out… and maybe figure out how to alert someone…. She just really didn't want her family vacation to be ruined by some bad guys.

On the pretense of going to the bathroom, Charlie passed between the tables and raised an eyebrow when she saw that the book that the men were obsessing over. It was covered in runes — she knew that much, but she didn't have the slightest idea what they were beyond that.

As she passed them by, she took the tracer out of her pocket and dropped it on one of the men before she ducked into the bathroom so she could at least say she'd gone. But when she poked her head out again, she took a quick picture of the then headed back to her seat.

"What's up, Charlie?" Chance asked when she sat down by him.

"Just sending a text," she said as she sent off the picture to K and Logan, since she didn't want to concern her dad… yet.

"Gerry again?" Chance asked with a slowly growing grin.

Charlie looked up at him with one eyebrow raised. "Seriously?"

"Hey, gotta look out for my sister," Chance said, shrugging up both shoulders.

Charlie rolled her eyes at him. "You're sweet, but oh so off-base."

"Then who you texting?"

Charlie smirked at him. "None of your business."

"Oh come on."

"Nosy."

"Hey!"

"Yep, nosy little busybody of a brother," Charlie sang his way, which got Chance to shove her in the shoulder.

"You're the worst, Charlie."

"I know," she said, grinning his way, but he was sufficiently redirected, and she simply settled in with her gelato to wait for K's response, since she was probably the best bet at translating them — or getting them to Kurt or Strange.

She realized, belatedly, that she hadn't actually specified that she didn't want them to let her dad know what she was up to… _Oops_.

_What's the deal here? _Came K's response. _It's just a bunch of protection runes and one that's supposed to ask for the God's assistance. _

Charlie raised an eyebrow and then quickly texted back. _Group of guys in Italy with some seriously evil intentions, but I don't know what for._

_Kinda far south for runes. Might be religious whackjobs. _

_Entirely possible, _Charlie said. _I just didn't want to bother my dad with it if I could help it. If it's just whackjobs… whatever, right? _

_I'll dig around just in case due to evil intentions. _

_Thanks. And… if they cause trouble… I might have dropped a tracer on one of them._

_I hope I taught you better than 'might have'. _

Charlie couldn't help but grin down at her phone. _Well, considering the fact that it's the one I'm supposed to be wearing in case of Sinister? We're going to stick with 'might have.' _

_I know nothing. Officially._

_Thanks. And thanks for the translation. See you soon! _

* * *

All summer long, Elin had taken advantage of the fact that she was reasonably sure 99% of the time where both of her parents were, so getting up to trouble with Nolan had been a cinch. Just … take note of where everyone was supposed to be, check the wind — and then make sure to flat out avoid anywhere that might tip them off.

Simple.

Until, of course, James had been let off the hook, and she had to resort to more devious methods to sneak off to make out. But … she even had that pretty well figured too, and she had _one _decent hiding spot left that she had full intentions to make use of before the changing season would wreck it entirely.

So she headed out into the woods, with Nolan following her with a wide grin to a little hideaway she'd found that dipped down off of the trail and was partly hidden by trees. It was perfect.

Except for the muted _bamf _that echoed the trees - and then the little 'eep'. "ELLIE."

"Crap," Elin muttered, scrambling to untangle herself and straighten up. "Oh, _hi _Krissy."

Krissy stared at her for a long time. "_Ellie_."

Elin looked at Nolan and gave him a little nod — a clear dismissal as she got to her feet and finished straightening up. "Krissy."

"You… in the _bushes_…."

"You know, there aren't a whole lot of places I can go," Elin pointed out. "Especially with all the restrictions going on right now."

Krissy stared at her friend. "That… but you don't… I thought you said you weren't _serious_."

"We're not," Elin defended quickly.

"_You certainly look like it_," Krissy said, her eyes wide. "Oh my gosh, Ellie. Any further and your parents will know _anyway_."

"You're being so dramatic," Elin said with a roll of her eyes as she headed onto the trail to go deeper into the woods.

Krissy rushed to catch up to her friend. "Ellie… you have to know that… I mean, there's nothing wrong with… but you don't… you shouldn't…"

"I know where the line is, okay?" Elin defended, though she looked a little stressed all the same.

"Do you?" Krissy asked. "Do you _mean _it when you kiss him? Because if you're not serious, then you're lying to him."

"I don't know," she said with a shrug.

Krissy shook her head at her friend as she walked with her. "I mean… there's nothing wrong with kisses when you mean them. But Ellie… I'm in love with Chance and we haven't even… and you…" She shook her head and brushed her hair behind both of her ears. "I just don't want either of you to get hurt, okay? I even care about Nolan. He's sweet. But if you don't like him — drop kick him to the curb."

"I don't know if I like him," Elin said with a sigh. "But I like whatever this is."

"I don't think that's a good enough reason," Krissy said.

"He's not complaining," she argued. "And you _don't _like him."

"I know he's a good guy, even if he's an idiot sometimes," Krissy argued.

"I can't believe you're trying to lecture me."

"I can't believe I found you two _fooling around _in the woods!" Krissy shot back.

Elin shook her head. "Not like we're the first ones to fool around a little."

Krissy let out a sigh and scrubbed a hand over her face. "Look. I know — I have _no _room to talk because… I … would love to get some more time with Chance. But I _like _him." She shook her head. "That's the whole point, isn't it?"

"I thought it was to make sure you liked them," she replied, crossing her arms over her stomach as they got up to a fork in the trail.

"You've been together for years now, Ellie. I think you know if you like him or not," Krissy said. "And my papa always taught me that kisses are lies when you don't mean them."

She looked thoughtful for a long moment as they headed down the trail that would take them toward the house. "Well, I don't know what to tell you."

Krissy let her shoulders drop a bit. "I just know my parents said that you should tread carefully. Kisses… and everything else… they're special. They mean something."

"I know," Elin said, sounding more irritated. The truth of the matter was that she knew Krissy would flip out if she told her the truth - that she kept up the makeout sessions simply because she felt _better _afterward. Though that wasn't going to be enough for her anxious best friend. "No one will get hurt."

Krissy dropped her shoulders a bit more before she pulled on Elin's arm and kissed her cheek. "You know I love you, right?"

"Yeah, and I love you too," she replied.

Krissy let out a sigh and then threaded her arm through Elin's. "Well… let's go get ice cream or something. I'm moving soon, and we gotta get in our girl time."

* * *

The Summers clan got back from vacation in great moods just ahead of the beginning of the semester, and they were all tanned, relaxed, and grinning — and back to not being blonde.

They had a little time before the kids were headed off to Europe, too, and while Chance had run off to go find Krissy, Charlie had a more important task in mind.

She made her way down to Hank's lab with a little smile and rushed over to hug Daisy first before she got Hank too. "Hey, we're back! Did you miss us?"

Hank grinned at her as he returned the hug. "Of course."

"Missed you too, Dr. Blue," Charlie sang out before she stepped back and grinned. "So, James said that you had Amy all fixed up?"

Hank smiled, somehow not surprised that this was the first thing on Charlie's mind upon her return. "Yes, it's ready for you to use — with supervision, of course."

She beamed at him. "Great! Where's James?"

"That's a very good question," Hank replied. "He hasn't been in my lab all summer."

Charlie shook her head at that. "Well, he should be there. This is his baby," she pointed out.

"I don't think you're going to get very far with that argument," Hank told her. "He's been entirely hands-off."

Charlie blew out her breath. "He's an idiot," she said, then shrugged both shoulders. "I'd still like to try it out, if that's okay?"

"It's been waiting for you," Hank replied with a warm smile.

She grinned and followed him to where the pendant was sitting out and slipped it over her neck. She turned the sensitivity down to its lowest settings first, took a deep breath…

And was thrilled to find that instead of the overwhelming sensations from before, it was much easier to manage. It was still loud, and there was a lot to sift through, but… she could pick out individual melodies. She grinned and looked up at Hank, flashing him a thumbs up before she concentrated on picking out one particular melody.

It was much more muted and somber than Charlie was used to from him, but she wasn't surprised that he was easier to find. After all, the whole family was.

With a smile, she slipped the pendant off her neck and handed it to Hank before flinging her arms around his neck and hugging him. She was still a bit shaken from all of the emotions at once — but she knew which ones were hers, and hers were pure excitement, so she focused on those instead.

"I take it it worked," Hank said with a warm smile.

"It's perfect!" she gushed, then paused. "I mean, it can probably be fine-tuned with a little more use, but… I found James easy enough." She hugged him again and then rushed off to go find James, since she knew exactly where he was, and he _deserved _to know that Amy had worked.

She found him sitting out by the lake and rushed over to where he was to simply wrap him in a hug right there. "It worked!" she said, grinning at him. "You're a genius!"

"Welcome back," he replied, doing his best to ignore the enthusiasm.

"Hi, nice to see you — Amy works!"

"That's what you said. I'm sure Hank did a lot to it," he said, waving it off. "How was Europe?"

"It was a blast. Cody can ski better than any of us, and Chloe pretty much fell in love with the instructor. Which was hilarious watching Mom and Dad," Charlie said, still grinning at him. "The sensitivity is perfect. It feels a little loud still, but Charles Xavier said they were doing tweaks forever to get it absolutely _perfect_. So we can work on that."

"You're in good hands. Hank knows what he's doing."

"I'd like it more if you were helping," Charlie said. "You got it when I explained it to you the first time."

He shifted uncomfortably. "I don't think that's the best idea."

"I'd rather work with you than Hank," Charlie admitted.

"H_e's _the one that made it right," James said. "He's the right one to tune it."

"But you deserve to get to work on it after all the work you put in."

"Woah, no. No I don't." He was shaking his head seriously.

Charlie rolled her eyes. "Don't get me wrong. I'm still mad at the way you decided to do it. But this — this has always been _our _project."

"No, Charlie, it's yours."

"The finished product is, yeah, but come on. It's got you written all over it. It's _emotionally tuned_, James." She shook her head. "I'll send you some notes next time I use it," she said.

"I'll give them to Hank."

"Is this my project or not?" she challenged, one eyebrow raised.

"It is, but I'm not doing this kind of thing anymore," James told her. "At all."

Charlie let out a sigh. "You are… just... "

"Untrustworthy with this kind of project. End of story."

"You really need to learn how to be in trouble without taking it so far to heart that it wrecks your entire self image," she said, her arms crossed.

"If I don't take it to heart, then I didn't learn anything," he countered. "And my self image is fine."

"Yeah, you learned, then you _ran _with it so, _so _far beyond the mark," Charlie said, waving her hand at him.

"I don't know what you want me to tell you," James said. "I screwed up - and I'm agreeing with that whole … everything."

"And you learned from it. Now move on and keep going."

"I am. On to other things."

She rolled her eyes. "You can't give up on stuff every time you make a mistake. You're going to live forever. You'll run out of things to do."

"This wasn't just a mistake," James argued. "It was a lot bigger than that."

"And you should pay attention to the fact that I was the one you hurt, and I still want your help," Charlie pointed out.

"And the fact that I hurt you is exactly why I think I should keep away."

"You're scared," Charlie said, one eyebrow up. "And don't deny it. I get really tired of people lying to me."

"I'm honestly surprised I didn't get a visit from Billy," James said.

"Yeah, you didn't get a harbinger visit," Charlie said with a little smile. "And I got a time-traveling brother visit that said we were _on the right track_, so the only real hangup here is you."

"_You_ were on the right track," James corrected.

She rolled her eyes at him. "I'm not going to argue with you on this anymore," she said, waving a hand at him. "Because all I can feel is self-doubt, fear, and self-loathing. And that's _not _what you were supposed to learn." She turned to leave and then shot him a little _look_. "I just wish you'd listen to me when I tell you that with something that intense and personal and _emotional_? I'd trust you more than anyone else to work on it. That's my decision. Please respect it."

"And I just want the same," James replied. "For as stupid as I am, I really don't want to wreck things worse."

"Come find me when you figure yourself out," Charlie said, already striding off and rolling her eyes hard.

"Missed you, Charlie," James called out quietly.

"Missed you too, James — believe it or not," she called back over her shoulder as she headed inside to go find K. Especially since she couldn't miss the spike in misery from James.

"Some of those runes you sent were reversed," K said when she saw Charlie headed her way. "Basically means those that would be positive are very, very _not. _Lots of destruction and violence … lust, fire … cheerful. Really brings up the room. Heavy stuff for a sweet girl like you."

Charlie paused and raised her eyebrow, since… that was not what she was coming to talk about, and it was a hard transition. "Well, I did say they had evil intentions," she pointed out.

"That you did."

"Sounds like something that should probably be looked into."

"Already tracking," K agreed. "They're visiting old sites registered in archaeological societies that match up with the old mythology stories across the board. Kinda ritualistic, actually. Might be a cult."

"Fun." Charlie shook her head. "That's… actually not what I wanted to ask you about, though."

"I don't give dating advice to kids your age," K deadpanned.

Charlie couldn't help but smile. "No, I just… Amy works," she explained. "And _well_. But I just wish James could see I'm trying to thank him and get him involved again."

"He really doesn't want to touch it again," K told her. "His idea, not anyone else's."

"He's full of fear and self-loathing," Charlie said. "I mean, I was mad at him, but I didn't want him to… fall apart!"

"You can't control how people feel," K replied.

"But I can _care_," Charlie said. "And I do. He's been an amazing friend to me, ever since I got my powers — he's one of the only people I can really _talk _to and feel like he gets it. I just want to be able to help him too. But I don't know how, so I'm asking you — please… he's a mess."

"He is," K agreed. "I've been watching him a lot. Probably more than he realizes. And I think … at least until he stops beating himself up so much, just let it go. He needs to get inspired by something."

"I wish he'd come with me to meet Professor Xavier," Charlie said with a sigh.

"Might have done him some good," K said. "Which … is probably why it didn't work out. Murphy's law."

Charlie sat down by K and let out a long sigh. "I just want him to be okay."

"Me too," K agreed. "And I think he's taking the right steps to get there, honestly."

"It scares me," Charlie said. "I feel the same things from Logan sometimes."

"Well, the apple didn't fall far, sweetheart."

Charlie leaned forward with a small smile. "Didn't fall far for me either. Why do you think I care?"

K smirked her way. "Give him a little time. He just spent the last few months away from Tony Stark entirely — and all of the overly enthusiastic 'you can do anything' rants he goes on. A few more months with a better influence and he'll have his head on a little straighter."

Charlie nodded. "Well… in the meantime… I guess it's time to let other people know about our weird cult problem, huh?"

"That's just it," K said before she sat back. "I don't know if it's _our _problem. There was nothing there specific toward anyone. Just a generalized … freakshow."

"I can keep an eye out," Charlie said. "I was thinking of taking Amy to Europe with me - so I can start helping more."

"I'm sure Hank will be fine with that," K said, nodding.

"And Dad," Charlie said. "I think he'd like to hear that there's a way to find anyone going missing even behind telepathic shielding." She grinned at K quietly and then stood up to leave. "Thanks. For everything," she said before she ducked out to go find Gerry — and give him a little encouragement to schedule his tests now that her dad was home.

* * *

**A/N: This is the last chapter in this volume! Keep your eyes peeled for the next one, "Shut Your Mouth," on Canucklehead Cowgirl's profile!**


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